GRC Benchmarking Report 2026: Key Findings

We surveyed 542 GRC programs across banking, fintech, and capital markets. Three findings shaped the entire report.

Finding one: tooling has consolidated, not proliferated

The median program now uses 4.1 GRC tools, down from 6.7 two years ago. Consolidation is the dominant trend; the long tail of point solutions is shrinking.

Finding two: AI adoption is uneven

38% of programs use AI in at least one workflow. Only 9% use it across the full GRC lifecycle. The gap is not technical — it is governance maturity.

Finding three: audit prep time is the universal pain point

Across every segment, audit preparation consumes the largest share of GRC team hours. The programs that have shortened it most aggressively share one trait: continuous evidence collection, not point-in-time scrambling.

"Audit prep is the lagging indicator of a GRC program's health. Compress it, and everything else follows."