AI Adoption Is Up. Productivity Gains Aren't Following. MAS Explains Why.
At the Global Finance and Technology Conference (GFF) 2026 on 11 September, MAS Managing Director Chia Der Jiun delivered a speech on building the financial system of the future. One observation deserves attention far beyond the financial sector.
Corporate AI adoption is progressing rapidly. But fewer companies report significant productivity gains from it.
That gap is not a footnote. It's the central AI story of 2026 - and it matters most for SMEs, who invest in AI with real money and can't afford returns that never arrive.
The missing links: training and responsible implementation
MAS identified two. Training: teams that understand the tools get value from them. Teams handed tools without training use a fraction of what's there. Responsible implementation: AI deployed with clear governance and controls produces trustworthy output. AI deployed ad hoc produces chaos dressed up as efficiency.
Put simply: the gap isn't the technology. It's everything wrapped around the technology.
Why this hits SMEs hardest
A large enterprise that wastes an AI deployment absorbs the loss. An SME that spends money, time, and team morale on tools that don't deliver feels it in the quarter.
The instinct under pressure is to chase the most impressive tool - the generative one, the agent one, the one everyone's posting about. MAS's observation suggests a different order of operations: start where the conditions for success already exist.
That place is accounting.
Accounting is where AI conditions are already right
Three reasons.
The rules are clear. Accounting runs on defined standards. AI does well when the problem has structure.
The data is structured. Every transaction has a defined shape. Structured data is what AI operates on best.
The controls are built in. Good accounting software ships with audit trails, access controls, and validation already embedded. You're not inventing governance from scratch - it's part of the platform. That's responsible implementation, pre-assembled.
Add proper training, and your team gains a system that automates the routine work correctly. The productivity gains MAS says are missing become visible in your month-end close.
The sequence that works
Get the accounting system right. Train the team on it properly. Automate the structured work first. Then expand toward the frontier tools with a foundation that already proves the gains.
OCi System is built for that sequence - structured accounting, built-in controls, and a platform an SME team can genuinely master.
Source: Monetary Authority of Singapore, 11 Sep 2026
https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/speeches/2026/building-the-financial-system-of-the-future---trusted-connected-and-resilient-by-md-for-gff-2026