Climate adaptation is the highest-ranked trend. Artificial intelligence and automation follow closely — up from dead last in 2024. But respondents also identify AI-related misuse, data risks and new forms of fraud as the leading current challenge. Funding volatility, climate threats to household resilience and geopolitical uncertainty are virtually tied as other major challenges. Overall, respondents see local or regional financial institutions as playing the greatest potential role in filling the funding gap, but a significant percentage think the gap will remain (although opinions here vary considerably by respondent type). Looking further ahead, respondents prioritise climate-smart finance, household and business resilience, and SME finance. What can we see from the overall rankings of trends, challenges etc.? 2. Results Two epochal influences face us all and have profound implications for all inclusive financial service providers: climate change and AI. Climate change is already affecting low- and moderate-income populations across the globe — eroding not just income but also their asset bases. Graham A. N. Wright , Co-Chair, MSC