Brazilian banks allocate $50.4bn to technology in 2026, cyber security priority

Brazilian banks plan to spend a total of R$ 50.4 billion on technology in 2026, an 8% rise from the previous year and a 58% increase compared with 2021, according to the Febraban Technology Banking Survey. The budget will be split among software (R$ 6.8 bn), IT services (R$ 5.8 bn), hardware (R$ 3.9 bn), telecom (R$ 300 m) and strategic projects such as artificial intelligence (R$ 826 m), cloud migration (R$ 3.9 bn) and blockchain. Cybersecurity was rated a top priority by 100% of the surveyed institutions, followed by cloud and generative AI.

In 2025, total bank transactions in Brazil reached 240.8 billion, up 11% year‑on‑year, with digital channels handling 83% of activity. Mobile banking accounted for 78% of all transactions, and smartphone usage for banking grew 169% over the past five years, driving 187.5 billion mobile transactions. Digital account openings surpassed physical ones, representing 54% of new accounts (19.4 million) while total active accounts stood at 596 million, 40% of which are used digitally. Corporate mobile banking usage reached 63% of firm transactions.