LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 9, 2025--
Senior finance leaders are preparing for a year of heightened foreign exchange volatility and liquidity pressure in 2026, yet many acknowledge their organisations are not fully equipped to manage the challenges ahead, according to new research from Alpha Group, a Corpay, Inc. company.
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The report, Countdown to 2026 – Risk Management Insights, draws on the views of 200 senior finance professionals from mid- to large-sized companies. It reveals a growing divide between awareness of financial risk and the effectiveness of the systems, governance, and leadership support in place to mitigate it.
Almost two-thirds (63%) of respondents expect FX market volatility to increase next year, driven by ongoing uncertainty around inflation, interest-rate policy, and geopolitics. More than half (51%) of larger organisations identify liquidity and cash-flow risk as their top financial concern, suggesting the effects of volatility are now being felt well beyond the markets themselves.
Despite this, oversight of currency risk remains inconsistent. More than half (51%) of large companies do not have FX policy embedded at board level, and almost one in four medium-sized firms continue to manage exposures on an ad-hoc or reactive basis. Without stronger governance and board accountability, Alpha warns, many businesses could face avoidable exposure as conditions tighten. Indeed, just over half (53%) feel confident in their ability to manage future risks.
Leadership engagement also plays a decisive role. One in three respondents (33%) said limited buy-in or investment from senior management has a significant impact on the effectiveness of their company’s FX risk management. Technology and forecasting capabilities are another concern. Although ERP and treasury systems are increasingly adopted, 89% of organisations do not systematically stress-test their FX forecasts against potential market shocks. Many continue to rely on spreadsheets and manual processes, constrained by resource limits, lack of expertise, and system integration challenges.
David Swann, Global Director of Partnerships at Alpha Group said:
“The research highlights a clear pattern: finance leaders are aware of the growing risks, but many lack the structures and systems needed to respond with confidence.
When volatility builds, the organisations that will be best placed to handle it are those that treat risk management as strategic, embedding responsibility at board level and investing in the technology and data needed to make faster, better-informed decisions.”
Countdown to 2026 – Risk Management Insights is based on proprietary research conducted by Alpha Group, gathering responses from 200 CFOs, Treasurers, and Financial Controllers across companies employing between 50 and more than 1,000 people.
The full report is available to download at: https://www.alphagroup.com/countdown-to-2026-report/.
About Alpha
Alpha is an award-winning global provider of financial solutions, empowering some of the world’s most respected organisations. Combining deep expertise with cutting-edge technology, we help organisations around the world manage their financial market risks and banking activities more effectively and efficiently. Today we are proud to be part of Corpay, Inc. – a global Fortune 1000 company and S&P 500 member listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CPAY).
Our specialist teams are available to support on all of the challenges raised in this report. To find out more, or speak to a member of the team, please visit www.alphagroup.com or email communications@alphagroup.com.
Countdown to 2026 – Risk Management Insights
The “Architects of AI” were named Time's person of the year Thursday, with the magazine citing 2025 as when the potential of artificial intelligence “roared into view" with no turning back.
“For delivering the age of thinking machines, for wowing and worrying humanity, for transforming the present and transcending the possible, the Architects of AI are TIME’s 2025 Person of the Year,” Time said in a social media post.
The magazine was deliberate in selecting people — the “individuals who imagined, designed, and built AI” — rather than the technology itself, though there would have been some precedent for that.
“We’ve named not just individuals but also groups, more women than our founders could have imagined (though still not enough), and, on rare occasions, a concept: the endangered Earth, in 1988, or the personal computer, in 1982,” wrote Sam Jacobs, the editor-in-chief, in an explanation of the choice. “The drama surrounding the selection of the PC over Apple’s Steve Jobs later became the stuff of books and a movie.”
One of the cover images resembling the “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper” photograph from the 1930s shows eight tech leaders sitting on the beam: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, AMD CEO Lisa Su, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the CEO of Google’s DeepMind division Demis Hassabis, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, who launched her own startup World Labs last year.
Another cover image shows scaffolding surrounding the giant letters “AI” made to look like computer componentry.
Five of the eight people selected — Musk, Zuckerberg, Huang, Altman and Su — are already billionaires with a collective fortune of $870 billion, based on the latest estimates compiled by Forbes magazine. Much of the wealth has been accumulated during the past three years of AI fever.
It made sense for Time to anoint AI because 2025 was the year that it shifted from “a novel technology explored by early adopters to one where a critical mass of consumers see it as part of their mainstream lives,” Thomas Husson, principal analyst at research firm Forrester, said by email.
The magazine noted AI company CEOs' attendance at President Donald Trump's inauguration this year at the Capitol as a herald for the prominence of the sector.
“This was the year when artificial intelligence’s full potential roared into view, and when it became clear that there will be no turning back or opting out,” Jacobs wrote.
Some experts expressed caution over the AI boom and the race to develop increasingly powerful systems.
“Leading AI companies are working feverishly to replace humans in every facet of life, and they’re not being shy about it,” said Anthony Aguirre, executive director of the nonprofit Future of Life Institute, which works on AI safety issues.“The impact on our society could be catastrophic if there are no guardrails protecting what’s human, and most important to us."
AI was a leading contender for the top slot, according to prediction markets, along with Huang and Altman. Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope whose election this year followed the death of Pope Francis, was also considered a contender, with Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani topping lists as well.
After winning his second bid for the White House, Trump was named 2024's person of the year by the magazine, succeeding Taylor Swift, who was the 2023 person of the year.
The magazine was bought by Marc Benioff in 2018. Benioff, one of the co-founders of cloud-computing firm Salesforce, has called AI “probably the most important” technological wave of his lifetime. He has repeatedly said he doesn't get involved in Time's editorial decisions.
The magazine's selection dates from 1927, when its editors have picked the person they say most shaped headlines over the previous 12 months.
Associated Press writers Matt O'Brien in Cupertino, California, Kelvin Chan in London, and Michael Liedtke in San Ramon, California, contributed to this article.
TIME CEO Jessica Sibley is interviewed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, adjacent to TIME's "Person of the Year" cover, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
TIME CEO Jessica Sibley, second from right, joined by OpenAI Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane, second left, rings the New York Stock Exchange opening bell for TIME's "Person of the Year," Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A sign for Time magazine is displayed outside the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025 in New York. (AP Photo/Donald King)
