For the second-year running, PwC’s Annual Global CEO Survey has included responses from business leaders across the Channel Islands, with the results showing that Channel Islands CEOs are at a pivotal moment as they race to keep pace with technological disruption.
The PwC Channel Islands CEO Survey 2026, entitled ‘Catalysing competitiveness in the age of AI’, captures the views of 45 CEOs across the islands and sets out how they are responding to a rapidly changing operating environment. The report reveals that while leaders in Guernsey and Jersey are more optimistic on revenue growth than many of their global peers, they face mounting pressure to accelerate AI adoption, strengthen innovation capabilities, and tackle critical talent gaps.
Key findings from the PwC Channel Islands CEO Survey 2026 include:
AI urgency but limited payoff so far
- 58% of Channel Islands CEOs are concerned their organisations may not transform fast enough to keep up with technology, including AI.
- Only 8% of business leaders currently report both higher revenues and lower costs as a result of AI adoption, indicating that most are still in the early stages of value capture.
- PwC has identified seven foundational requirements for AI maturity and successful enterprise-wide deployment of AI. Only 15% of companies report having enough of these in place for AI success.
Innovation ambition outstrips capability
- 80% of CEOs agree that innovation is critical to their organisation’s future.
- Just 9% of companies have strong innovation foundations in place, according to PwC’s criteria.
- Local CEOs spend only 7% of their time on long‑term strategic activities, less than half the global average of 16%.
- PwC recommends that CEOs need to treat long‑term reinvention as a standing priority in order to carve out more time for longer-term priorities
Stronger growth confidence than global peers
- 38% of Channel Islands CEOs are very or extremely confident about revenue growth over the next 12 months, compared with 31% globally. That said, local CEOs are less confident in the economic outlook for our local economy, with many looking beyond our shores for growth.
- Nearly two‑thirds (62%) of Channel Islands businesses have expanded into new markets or services outside their traditional industry in the past five years, reflecting appetite for diversification and international expansion. And 63% are planning to make international business investments over the next three years.
Talent, geopolitics and cyber risks rising
- Availability of key skills is the second‑biggest threat to island organisations after macroeconomic volatility, cited as a near‑term concern by 58% of local CEOs.
- Geopolitical uncertainty and associated cyber risk feature prominently on the risk agenda, particularly as AI reshapes the threat landscape.
- The survey highlights the need to pro-actively update cybersecurity strategies for AI‑enabled threats and to strengthen resilience across the ecosystem. Being reactive is not enough.
The report calls on leaders to move rapidly from experimentation to execution on AI, by developing clear AI roadmaps, putting robust data governance in place, and investing in the specialist skills required to deploy AI safely and at scale. It also urges CEOs to carve out more time for long‑term strategic thinking and to embed innovation more deeply into core business operations.
A call for coordinated action
The survey concludes with a call for closer collaboration between industry and government to:
- Position the Channel Islands at the forefront of technology and AI adoption.
- Build deeper innovation capabilities across sectors.
- Enhance the islands’ brand as an integral part of wider UK and global financial centres.
- Radically review talent attraction policies and incentives for in-bound talent
“The AI disruption we are seeing is a fast‑moving wave that will reward early movers and leave laggards exposed. For Channel Islands organisations, the priority now is to get data and governance right, invest in skills, and turn ambition on innovation into visible outcomes,” the report notes.
Reviewing the PwC Channel Islands CEO Survey 2026, PwC CI Senior Partner, Nick Vermeulen (pictured), said: “The year 2025 was certainly a period of global change and 2026 is continuing this trend. Leading through geopolitical uncertainty and accelerating effective AI adoption are top priorities for CEOs globally, and the Channel Islands picture is no different.
“Business leaders in Guernsey and Jersey are feeling positive about the future but, at the same time, concerned about managing risks and keeping up with the pace of change. The wave of AI disruption is a tsunami – and it’s already here. AI investment is a defensive necessity to maintain market share. Organisations that don’t get their data foundations right, build a clear roadmap, and develop the innovation capability to act on it risk being left behind. The time for cautious experimentation has passed; 2026 must be the year of decisive action with governance built in.
“This report highlights practical next steps for Channel Islands CEOs, together with a call to action for both industry leaders and policymakers. At PwC we strive to be collaborative, bold and optimistic. I believe this also describes our islands when we are at our best.”
