Executive Lunch
Building the Intelligent, Adaptive Enterprise: AI Transformation, Resiliency and Modernization in Financial Services
December 8, 2026 at 12:30 pm | Canoe Restaurant | Toronto
Canadian financial institutions are accelerating AI investment, with spending rising across Banking (+72.3% YoY), Insurance (+79.3%), and Capital Markets (+75.8%). Yet readiness lags: only 17% of financial services organizations actively use agentic AI today, while 34% are still exploring.
Data quality and governance remain the top implementation challenge, cited by 47% of Canadian enterprises. With ROI driving AI initiative selection, technology leaders must determine the infrastructure, funding, and operating models needed to scale agentic AI effectively.
IDC, together with Wipro and Microsoft, will convene a curated group of director-level and senior technology leaders from Canadian financial institutions for a candid lunch discussion in Toronto. The roundtable offers an opportunity to benchmark your modernization journey against peers and inform AI investment priorities through IDC research.
61% of Canadian organizations
plan to significantly increase agentic AI spend in 2026, compared with 49% globally.
Most important factors when selecting AI initiatives
ROI potential leads the AI initiative-selecting priorities at 61% in Canada, outpacing the 48% worldwide average.
ROI potential outweighing strategic alignment as a selection criterion points to a bottom-up, project-by-project funding model, where individual business cases compete on payback rather than being sequenced against a broader portfolio strategy.
Technology leaders approving use cases primarily on ROI should treat the resulting capability gap as a funded line item in the business case, not a risk to discover after approval.
Source: IDC’s Functional Agentic AI Survey and IDC’s AI Leaders and Use Case Study (combined), May 2026; (WW n = 2,951, Canada n = 125)
Discussion Themes
Four Conversations Every Tech Executive Should Be Having Right Now
Agentic Transformation: Ambition vs. Reality
AI investment intent in Canada already outpaces the global average, but it does not always translate into deployment. Where leaders sit today in their AI journey, how are funding decisions made (and by who), and what challenges arise as usage scales.
Infrastructure readiness: The Trust Foundation
Data quality and governance is the top challenge enterprises name for agentic AI implementation. How leaders value data readiness, what still needs to be done to trust it, and how organizations weigh the build versus buy versus outsource decision.
The Funding Question
In Canada, ROI potential leads the criteria for selecting AI initiatives. How leaders are making the AI business case, how is spending allocated in different categories, and who owns the strategic mandate ahead of the next five years.
Beyond the Pilot
An adaptive enterprise continuously converts pilots into scaled, governed capability rather than letting them stall. How organizations keep learning and adjusting after deployment, who owns the strategy adaptation, and how to drive it into enterprise-wide.
What To Expect
An executive dinner led by a skilled moderator
An intimate gathering of senior IT leaders from diverse industries, grappling with similar issues
A secure, private conversation open only to a carefully vetted group
Your host
Jerry Silva
Vice President Financial Insights
IDC
Read bio
Jerry Silva
Jerry Silva is Program Vice President for IDC Financial Insights leading the global financial services research programs across banking, insurance, and capital markets. He draws on 40+ years of experience in the financial services industry covering a variety of topics, from digital infrastructures to AI, data management, and IT governance.
Before coming to IDC, Jerry ran his own technology consulting company assisting both vendors and institutions with product strategy, marketing, and acquisition and deployment of technology solutions in financial services. Prior to that, Jerry was responsible for product strategy at a US-based software company, creating solutions for consumer and small business online banking, mobile banking, and payments. He started his professional career working in operations, technology, and line of business groups and supporting transformational projects for First national Bank of Chicago, BayBank, and BankBoston.
As a respected domain expert, Jerry has chaired and speaks at various banking technology symposiums, including the Financial Services Technology Forum, the Identity Theft and Fraud Symposium, Money20/20 and SIBOS. He is a frequent contributor to publications including the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, the New York Times, American Banker, and others.
Agenda
IDC Executive Lunch in partnership with Wipro & Microsoft
Thu, Oct 22
Networking Reception
A private reception bringing together senior executives and industry analysts to connect, exchange perspectives, and set context for the evening’s discussion.
Lunch & Discussion
A moderated, off‑the‑record discussion over lunch focused on real‑world execution challenges, emerging industry priorities, and their implications for enterprise leaders.
Event Concludes
The lunch concludes with brief closing remarks and informal follow‑up conversations, reinforcing key takeaways and ongoing peer engagement.
Partners
Sponsored By
Wipro
Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading AI-powered technology services and consulting company focused on building innovative solutions that address clients’ most complex digital transformation needs. Leveraging our consulting-led approach and the Wipro Intelligence™ unified suite of AI-powered platforms, solutions and transformative offerings, we help clients realize their boldest ambitions to build intelligent and sustainable businesses. The Wipro Innovation Network – part of the Wipro Intelligence™ suite – underpins our commitment to client-centric co-innovation and co-creation by bringing together capabilities from the innovation labs and partner labs, academia, and global tech communities. With over 240,000* employees and business partners across 65 countries, we deliver on the promise of helping our customers, colleagues, and communities thrive in an ever-changing world.
Visit www.wipro.com
Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) creates platforms and tools powered by AI to deliver innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers. The technology company is committed to making AI available broadly and doing so responsibly, with a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
Visit www.microsoft.com
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