After years as a CFO who collaborated closely with CIOs, I’ve witnessed firsthand the transformation of the CFO role from a financial steward to a strategic leader. The interplay between finance and technology has become more intertwined than ever, creating opportunities to drive innovation, enhance operations, and achieve strategic goals.
During a recent conversation, I discussed these themes with Emmanuelle Hose, Rimini Street’s GVP & Regional Manager Oceania, as well as other critical insights for finance and IT leaders in the financial services industry. Watch the full conversation here and find my main takeaways below.
The CFO-CIO dynamic is evolving
One of the standout insights from Rimini Street’s global survey of nearly 3,000 CFOs and CIOs, C-Suite Imperatives: Evolving IT and Enterprise Investments, is the growing convergence of their responsibilities. Where IT decisions were once the sole domain of CIOs, CFOs are now stepping in to influence, if not direct, these investments. This shift reflects the strategic importance of technology as more than a cost center; it is now a driver of growth, efficiency, and resilience.
However, alignment between CFOs and CIOs is not without its challenges. As Emma noted, both roles often believe they’re steering the technology investment ship, leading to potential conflicts.
In the global survey, CFOs listed their top priority as security, while CIOs listed gaining business agility among their top priorities. This underscores the need for collaboration—decisions about IT strategy and budgets cannot happen in silos. Instead, CFOs and CIOs must work together to ensure that every investment aligns with broader business goals and delivers measurable value. Areas where collaboration is crucial include accelerating digital transformation and IT agility, using data to make informed business decisions, and maintaining robust security measures against evolving cyber threats. I’ve found effective in helping prioritize competing IT imperatives against budget constraints.
How AI is transforming financial services
A primary growth driver that CIOs and CFOs in financial services can partner on is the expansion of AI everywhere. Artificial intelligence is reshaping industries, and the financial services sector is leading the way. AI has become the backbone of various banking functions from fraud control to customer experience. During the conversation, I shared several inspiring examples of financial organizations leveraging AI to drive transformation:
- JP Morgan Chase: Their AI-powered fraud detection system analyzes vast amounts of transaction, customer, and device data in real-time to identify and prevent fraudulent activities.
- Bank of America: By automating compliance processes, their AI system flags suspicious activities in real-time, streamlining anti-money laundering efforts.
- Capital One: Through AI-driven customer behavior analysis, they deliver tailored product recommendations and personalized financial insights, enhancing user experience.
These are just a few of the examples I presented to demonstrate the transformative power of AI and to highlight opportunities for CFOs to drive similar innovations within their organizations. Watch the full conversation for more examples from FICO, Goldman Sachs, and more.
4 Key Priorities for Financial Services CFOs in 2025
Looking ahead, CFOs must embrace a forward-thinking mindset to navigate economic pressures and rapid technological advancements. Here are four key priorities I believe will define success in 2025:
- Foster the CFO-CIO relationship: Take a more active role in the IT partnership and champion technology investments that drive growth.
- Accelerate AI adoption: Use data and AI capabilities to optimize operations, personalize customer experiences, and enable better data-driven decision-making.
- Prioritize investments: Ensure that your resources are allocated to the business initiatives that deliver maximum value and ROI.
- Build agility: Maintain flexible IT strategies allowing organizations to respond quickly to economic pressures, emerging technologies, and market opportunities.
The future is undeniably exciting for CFOs embracing their evolving role. By fostering strong partnerships with CIOs, prioritizing innovation, and addressing operational pain points, we can lead our organizations toward sustainable success.
If you’re managing complex enterprise applications or striving to unlock the full potential of your data, Rimini Street is here to help. Our approach helps you free up people, time, and money by reducing operational burdens. This allows you to reallocate those resources toward innovation and strategic priorities, such as deploying AI or modernizing applications. Learn how Rimini Street helps financial services clients reduce risk, drive growth, and achieve IT transformation without disruption.
