After several years of intense hype around artificial intelligence, automation and ‘shift-left’ delivery, software testing in financial services is entering a more measured phase.
Banks and insurers, under growing regulatory scrutiny and operational pressure, are no longer asking whether to adopt AI in QA, but how to control, validate and scale it without introducing new risks.
This shift reflects a broader reality across enterprise technology: innovation is no longer the bottleneck. Execution is. And for QA teams, that means moving away from experimentation and toward disciplined, governed and sustainable practices.
Against that backdrop, Leon Lodewyks, chief technology officer at South Africa-based Inspired Testing, argues that 2026 will not be defined by disruption, but by consolidation.
“For the past several years we’ve seen a familiar wave of articles early in the year predicting radical disruption in software testing, AI will replace testers,” Lodewyks said.
“Automation will eliminate manual work. Shift-left will transform delivery overnight,” he stated.
“But if we step back and honestly assess the current market, something very different is happening,” Lodewyks added. “We are not entering a year of dramatic reinvention, we are entering a year of consolidation.”
Rather than lagging behind, many financial institutions are still absorbing the last wave of transformation. “Most organisations are not lagging, they’re mid-transition, and that reality is going to shape the year ahead,” he said.
From hype to governance
AI is already embedded across testing workflows, from test design to regression analysis, but the conversation has shifted decisively toward control and accountability.
“The conversation has shifted from ‘Should we use AI?’ to ‘How do we use AI responsibly?’” Lodewyks pointed out.
That concern is not new, as he previously warned: “AI shouldn’t be a black box or a threat, it should be a tool that enhances human insight and capability.”
For banks, where auditability and explainability are critical, this translates into a stronger focus on governance frameworks.
“The real focus now is on validation of AI-generated artefacts, governance and model boundaries, data privacy and security, and human oversight and accountability,” he wrote in a recent blog post.
Crucially, AI is not replacing QA discipline, it is intensifying it. “AI does not remove the need for quality thinking, it amplifies it,” Lodewyks explained.
This raises the bar for financial institutions seeking to extract value from AI without exposing themselves to new operational or regulatory risks.
“In 2026, competitive advantage will not come from simply adopting AI. It will come from integrating AI into a disciplined quality framework that ensures reliability, traceability and trust,” he said.
“We are not entering a year of dramatic reinvention, we are entering a year of consolidation.”
– Leon Lodewyks
At the same time, long-standing assumptions about automation success are being challenged.
“For years, success was measured by volume: how many tests are automated, how large is the regression pack?” Lodewyks continued.
“Now the more important question is how many of those tests are stable, trusted and economically viable?”
In banking environments, where brittle automation can create as much risk as it removes, this shift is particularly significant.
“Automation is no longer impressive because it exists; it is impressive when it reduces risk without increasing overhead,” he remarked.
As a result, teams are prioritising resilient frameworks, maintainability and long-term sustainability over raw scale. “In 2026, sustainability will matter more than scale,” Lodewyks said.
Quality becomes embedded, not a checkpoint
The evolution of delivery models is also reshaping how quality is defined and implemented across financial services.
“Shift-left is no longer a trend, it’s an expectation,” Lodewyks said. “Quality is not a phase at the end of delivery, it’s a property of the system,” Lodewyks stated.
This reflects a wider move toward continuous validation, where requirements are tested early, systems are designed for testability, and verification is embedded into CI/CD pipelines.
Banks and financial services firms that continue to treat QA as a late-stage checkpoint face increasing pressure on cost, speed and resilience.
The scope of quality has also broadened. “Security, performance and accessibility are no longer specialist streams, they are baseline expectations,” he said.
For banks, this means that what once differentiated leading QA teams is now simply the minimum standard required to operate credibly in a regulated environment.
“Shift-left is no longer a trend, it’s an expectation.”
– Leon Lodewyks
Beyond tools and processes, Lodewyks points to a deeper organisational transformation. “Perhaps the most important shift is not technical, it’s organisational,” he said.
“QA roles are evolving from execution-focused positions toward advisory capability,” Lodewyks argued.
In practice, this means QA professionals are increasingly expected to operate as risk managers and strategic partners within delivery teams.
“The key question is no longer ‘can you run tests?’ but rather ‘can you help us make better delivery decisions and avoid the wrong risks?’”
This evolution is particularly relevant in banking, where technology failures carry regulatory, financial and reputational consequences, and where QA teams are becoming central to governance and decision-making frameworks.
Taken together, these trends point to a maturing phase for quality engineering across financial services.
“We are not in a year of radical disruption; we are in a year of operational discipline,” Lodewyks summarised. “A year of measured AI adoption, strengthened fundamentals and practical maturity.”
For banks navigating increasing complexity, the implication is clear: success will depend less on adopting the latest tools and more on embedding quality deeply into systems, processes and strategy.
“Quality engineering is not entering a revolution; it’s growing up, and that may be the most important shift of all,” Lodewyks concluded.
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