“The Complacency Paradox” – Kyriba’s Global Study of over 1,300 CFOs finds risk concern at a new low, despite exposure remaining high
Kyriba, the global leader in liquidity performance, released its CFO Risk Radar 2026 report, revealing a significant gap between how prepared CFOs feel and what the evidence actually shows.
Read More on Fintech : Global Fintech Interview with Rob Young, Managing Director – UK at InDebted
“Concern is falling but exposure isn’t,” said Todd Laddusaw, Chief Finance Officer at Kyriba. “That’s the core finding of this year’s Risk Radar, and it should change how CFOs think about readiness.”
The research found that four in five CFOs experienced a financial impact from risks in the past year, despite concern about those risks falling by an average of 13 percentage points. Kyriba has dubbed this The Complacency Paradox: risks have become business as usual, and CFOs may be mistaking that normalisation for safety.
“Concern is falling but exposure isn’t,” said Todd Laddusaw, Chief Finance Officer at Kyriba. “That’s the core finding of this year’s Risk Radar, and it should change how CFOs think about readiness.”
Risk concern is falling, but the risks are not
Concern about measured risk categories has declined by an average of 13pp across 12 risk categories YoY. At the same time, CFO optimism is also softening:
- Economic outlook: 70.8% positive, down 4.8pp year over year (from 75.6%)
- Business outlook: 73.8% positive, down 5.4pp year over year (from 79.2%)
“When concern and optimism fall together, that is not a sign that the world has become safer. It is a sign that CFOs have recalibrated their expectations downward – without necessarily upgrading the tools needed to manage it,” said Monica Boydston, Chief Product Officer at Kyriba.
The 2025 risks that drove concern are all still present in 2026. What has changed is not the exposure – it is the threshold for alarm:
- Inflation and cost of living remains the #1 global concern at 76.4%, declining only 5pp – the most persistent and most watched risk on the agenda
- AI disruption enters the ranking for the first time, at 52% concern, yet more CFOs expect financial disruption from it (55.2%) than actively flag it as a concern — awareness may already be lagging exposure
- Political instability is the #1 risk in both Spain (80.0%) and France (72.0%), reflecting a permanent fixture rather than a temporary shock
- Tariffs remain acute where trade exposure is highest, most notably at 83.2% in Mexico
The cost of being unprepared
79% of CFOs experienced some degree of financial impact from inadequate risk visibility in the past year. Only one in five escaped unscathed. Of those affected:
- 14.8% experienced significant financial impact
- 43.3% experienced moderate impact
- 21.2% experienced minor impact
The readiness gap: seen vs prepared
The research shows 47% of CFOs feel highly prepared to manage financial risk, yet 79% experienced financial impact last year. That gap – between perceived and actual protection – is the finding that matters most. Visibility is the one variable CFOs can actually control. Yet only 39.3% expect a high level of impact from risks they are already aware of. Even informed CFOs are routinely underestimating their full exposure.
Catch more Fintech Insights : The AI Shift in Fraud: Why Banks Need a New Playbook
[To share your insights with us, please write to psen@itechseries.com ]
