Good morning. CFO confidence is on the upswing as 2026 begins, and digital transformation in finance has overtaken enterprise risk management as the top goal for the year ahead.
That’s a key finding of Deloitte’s latest CFO Signals Spotlight report, released this morning. Half of the finance chiefs surveyed named digital transformation as their foremost priority for 2026, followed by cash management optimization and capital allocation. The findings are based on a recent Q4 survey of 200 CFOs across industries at North American companies with at least $1 billion in annual revenue.
Steve Gallucci, global and U.S. leader of Deloitte’s CFO Program, told me the shift reflects how finance leaders are moving from exploration to execution when it comes to technology—particularly AI.
“Efficiency and productivity are certainly part of the equation,” Gallucci said. “But more broadly, we’ve been on this digital evolution for some time.”
In recent years, as advanced technologies like agentic AI burst onto the scene, boards and C-suite leaders have shown increasing interest. Finance chiefs took a cautious approach to implementing these tools. Deloitte’s Finance Trends report finds that finance leaders are now influencing enterprise strategy, driving cost optimization, advancing digital transformation, and building tech-enabled teams.
Last year, many companies focused on testing, creating use cases, and developing comfort with AI, Gallucci noted. But according to the Q4 survey, 87% of CFOs said AI will be extremely or very important to how their finance departments operate in 2026.
“What we’re seeing in some of the answers to the Q4 survey questions is that continued evolution,” Gallucci said. Finance leaders are taking a more deliberate, enterprise-wide approach to transformation and AI is accelerating that commitment, he added.
The report outlines six key areas CFOs plan to prioritize this year: Leveraging digital tools to transform finance operations; going all in on AI; embedding AI agents directly into finance workflows; keeping close watch on changes in buyer behavior; tapping internal talent to manage costs; and exploring more deal-making opportunities.
CFOs also appear focused on redeploying existing finance talent to work alongside AI-driven systems. About half of respondents said their organizations plan to hire or promote internally to help keep worker costs in line for 2026.
As CFOs and finance leaders lean into digital transformation, there’s an expectation that they’re going to have to reskill their existing talent, Gallucci said.
“We’re not seeing a decline in the number of finance professionals as a result of investments in technology and AI,” he said. But as leaders look to the future—both in finance and across the broader enterprise—they are increasingly focused on boosting productivity through technology and combining those tools with the skills of their existing workforce and an agentic digital workforce, he explained.
Competition and consumer dynamics add pressure
While technology transformation tops the agenda, competitive pressure remains a driving force. About half of CFOs cited rising competition as having the biggest impact on their companies, followed closely by shifts in customer behavior and demographics.
Competitive pressures are always near the top of CFOs’ minds, Gallucci said. But what’s different now is how they’re responding—looking across industries to see how others are using AI and digital tools, and applying those lessons quickly, he said.
Gallucci also pointed to evolving consumer demand as a key factor to watch, particularly as major banks and retailers release their fourth-quarter earnings.
There’s evidence of a K-shaped economy, he added. “CFOs are paying close attention to what that means for growth, pricing, and investment strategy.”
Clare Kennedy was appointed CFO of Spencer Stuart, a global advisory firm, effective Jan. 12. Kennedy succeeds Christine Laurens as part of a planned succession and in support of Laurens’ retirement from full-time executive work. Kennedy, who is based in London, joins Spencer Stuart from Maples Group, an international advisory firm, where she served as global chief operating officer. She joined Maples Group from Freshfields, an international law firm, where she served as its global CFO. Kennedy previously spent 18 years at Linklaters, an international law firm, where she held a variety of senior finance and commercial leadership roles. She began her career at Arthur Andersen and EY as a chartered accountant, specializing in tax.
Gillian Munson was appointed CFO of Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ: DUOL), a mobile learning platform, effective Feb. 23. Matt Skaruppa will step down after nearly six years with the company; he will remain CFO until Munson starts her new role, at which time he will assume an advisory role. Munson assumes the CFO role after serving on the Duolingo board of directors since 2019 as chair of the audit, risk and compliance committee. She was most recently the CFO of Vimeo and previously held CFO positions at Iora Health, Inc. and XO Group Inc.
Big Deal
A joint statement on Monday from tech giants Apple and Google announced that they have entered into a multi-year collaboration under which the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology. These models are said to power future Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalized Siri coming this year.
The tech giants stated: “After careful evaluation, Apple determined that Google’s AI technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and is excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for Apple users. Apple Intelligence will continue to run on Apple devices and Private Cloud Compute, while maintaining Apple’s industry-leading privacy standards.”
Google and others took the early lead in the AI race, while Apple’s iPhone has lagged rivals on some AI features. Following earlier AI missteps, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company acknowledged last year that a major Siri upgrade would not arrive until sometime in 2026.
“This is what the Street has been waiting for with the elephant in the room for Cupertino revolving around its invisible AI strategy, but we believe this is an incremental positive to both AAPL and GOOGL,” Wedbush Securities analysts wrote in a Monday note on the Apple–Google partnership. Wedbush maintains an Outperform rating on Apple and continues to target a $350 price for the stock.
Going deeper
“Trump threatens to keep ‘too cute’ Exxon out of Venezuela after CEO provides reality check on ‘uninvestable’ industry” is a Fortune article by Jordan Blum.
Blum writes: “As other oil executives lavished President Trump with praise at the White House, Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods bluntly said the Venezuelan oil industry is currently ‘uninvestable,’ and that major reforms are required before even considering committing the many billions of dollars required to revitalize the country’s dilapidated crude business. Read the complete article here.
Overheard
“Buying a movie studio is hardly buying secure, hard assets.”
—Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Yale professor and founder of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, and Stephen Henriques, a senior research fellow, write in a Fortune opinion piece titled “A Cautionary Hollywood Tale: The Ellisons’ Lose-Lose Paramount Positioning” regarding the multiple bids for Warner Bros. Discovery.
Talks on a landmark free trade deal between the European Union and four South American countries started so long ago that the euro wasn’t even in circulation, China hadn’t yet joined the World Trade Organization and Venezuela was still America’s top oil provider.
This is the first major trade agreement for Mercosur, which includes the region’s two biggest economies, Brazil and Argentina, along with Paraguay and Uruguay. Bolivia, the newest member, was not involved in negotiations but can join the agreement in the coming years.
The trans-Atlantic trade deal — lifting tariffs on products ranging from Argentine steaks and Brazilian copper to German cars and Italian wine — still has to be ratified by the European Parliament.
The significance of creating one of the world’s largest free-trade zones — home to more than 700 million people and accounting for a quarter of global gross domestic product — while President Donald Trump yanks the United States out of the international economy is not lost on the signatories.
For once, it’s not about Trump vs. China
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the deal last week as a powerful endorsement of multilateralism “in the face of an increasingly hostile and transactional world.” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 80, called it a rare “victory for dialogue, negotiation and the bet on cooperation.”
“It’s a signal that South American economies are seeking to hedge away from this great power competition between the U.S. and China,” said Lee Schlenker, a research associate with the Global South program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a Washington think tank.
“It shows that South America can continue to flex its muscles in the international sphere, to diversify its trade partners and exert a certain level of autonomy it’s often denied.”
South American ranchers rejoice
The accord grants South American nations, renowned for their fertile land and skilled farmers, increased access at a preferential tax rate to Europe’s vast market for agricultural goods.
Here in Argentina, exporters reckon they’ll save tens of millions of dollars a year thanks to the deal’s immediate elimination of a 20% tariff on the EU’s long-standing quota scheme for high-quality meat imports.
It’s a breakthrough for Argentina, a nation dominated for decades by left-leaning populist governments that kept the economy closed to the outside world and prioritized the domestic market to the extent of imposing taxes on farm exports to keep food prices down.
“We’re in the midst of a paradigm shift here,” said Carlos Colombo, the president of Cañuelas Cattle Market in Buenos Aires province where over 12,000 cattle are sold daily, many destined for Europe and China. “Argentina has reopened itself to the world.”
At first he derided the notoriously slow-moving Mercosur as irrelevant and threatened to ditch it. But he changed his tune since realizing the bloc’s potential to sweep away tariffs and slash customs red tape.
“He sees this agreement as a way to revitalize and re-signify Mercosur,” said Marcelo Elizondo, an Argentine economic analyst specializing in international trade.
The free-trade fever has also infected Brazil’s long-closed economy. Apex, a Brazilian government investment agency, estimates that EU-bound agricultural exports like instant coffee, poultry and orange juice will rake in $7 billion in coming years.
Europe’s farmer lobby wins concessions
Squeezed by environmental regulations and fearing a flood of cheap food products from across the Atlantic, farmers have blocked highways and descended on the streets of European capitals in an explosion of outrage against the agreement.
The EU has scrambled to soothe their concerns over decades of negotiations, adding environmental and animal welfare safeguards to the accord and imposing strict quotas for South American exports of meat and sugar to ensure homegrown produce stays competitive.
Even so, the angry farmers ultimately persuaded France, Poland and a few other states to oppose the deal in last week’s internal EU vote, depriving the accord’s supporters of what they hoped would be a show of unity. Italy and other agricultural powerhouses only came around after the EU offered farmers generous subsidies to the tune of $52 billion.
“It’s a sizable bribe,” said Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “EU leaders decided that the deal is so important at this moment, it’s worth it.”
‘Cows for cars’
Some have dubbed the deal “cows for cars,” reflecting the perception that Europe’s auto industry will also win big.
Clobbered by growing competition with China and sky-high U.S. tariffs, vaunted German auto giants like Volkswagen and BMW are glad for the boost, as are producers in Europe’s pharmaceutical, construction and machinery sectors gaining access to hundreds of millions more consumers.
Experts say that the elimination of 35% tariffs on auto parts and cars gives European industrial exporters a rare chance to claw back their South American market share from cheaper Chinese rivals.
“Failing to sign the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement risked pushing Latin American economies closer to Beijing’s orbit,” said Agathe Demarais, a senior policy fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations.
But many are still are holding their breath, having watched negotiations lumber along for years only to trip up at the last minute.
“There are still several steps that have to be taken … and Europe continues to be very careful,” Colombo said, straining to be heard over the hollers of cowboys prodding hundreds of bellowing cattle into trucks.
“Let’s not forget, this is historic. We’ve never reached an agreement like this before.”
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Associated Press writer Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo contributed to this report.
Good morning. Citi’s fourth-quarter 2025 results marked a profitable close to 2025 and a turning point in its leadership, as longtime CFO Mark Mason prepares to hand the reins to his successor amid solid earnings and an ongoing restructuring.
The bank reported Q4 net income of $2.5 billion, or $1.19 per diluted share, on $19.9 billion of revenue, down from $2.9 billion, or $1.34 per share, on $19.5 billion a year earlier. On a reported basis (including a Russia-related notable item), EPS of $1.19 and revenue of $19.9 billion topped FactSet estimates of $1.02 and $19.6 billion. On an adjusted basis (excluding the notable item), EPS was $1.81 on $21.0 billion of revenue, ahead of consensus EPS of $1.65 and revenue of $20.9 billion.
“We ended the year in a position of strength, having executed against our strategic priorities,” Citi CFO Mark Mason said on Wednesday morning in his final quarterly media call as finance chief. The bank announced in November that he will step down in early March. Mason, who joined Citi in 2001 and became CFO in 2019, takes over as executive vice chairman and senior executive advisor to chairwoman and CEO Jane Fraser, while Gonzalo Luchetti, head of U.S. personal banking, will succeed him as CFO. I previously reported that his long-term ambition is to become a CEO, according to people familiar with the matter.
Mason said Luchetti has driven 13 consecutive quarters of positive operating leverage in U.S. personal banking, including returns of more than 14% in the fourth quarter and more than 13% for the full year. “I think he is well equipped and armed to come in as our newly appointed CFO and continue the momentum,” he said.
Citi said late last year it would move its retail bank into the wealth business, with the two card businesses run together under Pam Habner. Over the balance of 2026, Mason said he will help with Citi’s May 7 investor day and other strategic initiatives.
Citi is working toward a previously discussed reduction of about 20,000 roles. “We’ve made progress on that since 2022 and 2023, landing in the end of 2025 at 226,000 employees,” Mason said, adding he expects headcount to continue to trend down as productivity improves and tools like AI are implemented. It has been reported that Citi is poised to eliminate about 1,000 positions this week, following earlier rounds of layoffs.
On the economy, Mason said the health of the consumer, overall, has remained resilient. Citi’s largely prime (about 85%) card customer base is showing solid financial discipline, with spending up 5% year over year, but lower‑FICO consumers are feeling more pressure from inflation and higher prices, he explained.
As big banks report earnings, President Donald Trump’s proposal to cap credit card interest rates at 10% has surfaced as a key topic. Mason said there is not yet enough detail to speculate, but he called affordability an important issue and said Citi looks forward to working with the administration on a constructive solution.
“I also say that an interest rate cap is not something that we would or could support,” he said, arguing it would restrict access to credit for those who need it most and have “a deleterious impact on the economy.”
Dennis K. Cinelli was appointed CFO of Paramount, a Skydance Corporation (No. 147), effective Jan. 15, and as such has resigned his board of directors seat. Cinelli will succeed Andrew C. Warren, who has served as EVP and interim CFO since June 2025. Most recently, Cinelli served as CFO of Scale AI. He previously held senior finance and operational roles at Uber, including global head of strategic finance, and later running the U.S. and Canada Mobility (Rides) business. Before Uber, Cinelli was with G.E. Ventures as CFO.
Every Friday morning, the weekly Fortune 500 Power Moves column tracks Fortune 500 company C-suite shifts—see the most recent edition.
More notable moves:
Deborah Ricci was appointed EVP and CFO of Acentra Health, a technology and health solutions company. Ricci joins Acentra Health from Guidehouse Inc., where she most recently served as partner and chief financial and administrative officer. Earlier in her career, Ricci held multiple senior finance leadership roles, including CFO positions at Constellis, Centerra Group, and A-T Solutions, and began her career as a certified public accountant with KPMG.
Rohan Ranadive was appointed managing director and CFO of GTCR, a private equity firm. Ranadive succeeds Anna May Trala, who is retiring. Trala will remain affiliated with the firm, serving as a senior advisor going forward. Ranadive brings more than 20 years of experience. He joins GTCR from Vista Equity Partners, where he was a managing director of finance operations. Before that, he was the CFO of Aviditi Advisors and spent 12 years at TPG Capital in various finance and accounting leadership roles.
Big Deal
BCG’s AI Radar 2026 global survey, released this morning, finds that CEOs are recognizing that AI is more than a technology; it can fundamentally change how organizations are run.
For example, 94% of CEOs surveyed said they will continue to invest even if AI does not pay off in 2026. CEOs also said they are increasingly hands-on in AI-driven corporate transformation, with 72% saying they are the main decision maker on AI in their organization. Three CEO archetypes emerge, with “trailblazer CEOs” leading end-to-end AI transformation; 60% of trailblazers’ AI budgets will be spent on agentic AI.
“With AI spending set to ramp up further this year, the focus is shifting from ‘how much do we invest?’ to ‘how do we turn bigger AI budgets into real business impact?’” said Vlad Lukic, global leader for AI at Scale at BCG. “The stakes are rising for leadership, as capital alone is not enough without a clear strategy and disciplined execution.”
The findings are based on a global survey of 2,360 executives, including 640 CEOs, across industries at companies earning between at least $100 million and more than $5 billion in annual revenue.
From the BCG AI Radar 2026 Survey. Courtesy of BCG.
Going deeper
“Can Saks’ new CEO repair the damage done to the luxury retailer by years of being treated as a ‘financial plaything’?” is a Fortune article by Phil Wahba.
Wahba writes: “For the second time in his career, luxury executive Geoffroy van Raemdonck has been tasked with fixing an iconic department store company brought low by financial engineering. In 2018, he was hired to fix Neiman Marcus Group, which was struggling to to keep up with shifting consumer trends and unprofitable under the weight of heavy debt from years of private equity ownership. This time, the job is twice as big. On Tuesday, Van Raemdonck was appointed CEO of Saks Global, the same day as the luxury department store giant, which includes Neiman Marcus Group (and its Bergdorf Goodman division) and Saks Fifth Avenue, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.” Read the complete article here.
Overheard
“I’m optimistic that AI won’t hollow out the industrial workforce. In fact, incorporating AI at scale to support a younger workforce may be the only way to sustain it.”
—Kriti Sharma, CEO of IFS Nexus Black, writes in a Fortune opinion piece titled, “AI will infiltrate the industrial workforce in 2026—let’s apply it to training the next generation, not replacing them.”
President Donald Trump is set to meet Thursday at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by then-President Nicolás Maduro before the United States captured him in an audacious military raid this month.
Less than two weeks after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges, Trump will host the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Machado, having already dismissed her credibility to run Venezuela and raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in the country.
“She’s a very nice woman,” Trump told Reuters in an interview about Machado. “I’ve seen her on television. I think we’re just going to talk basics.”
The meeting comes as Trump and his top advisers have signaled their willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and along with others in the deposed leader’s inner circle remain in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.
Trump said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.
“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump told reporters. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”
In endorsing Rodríguez, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela. She had sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key advisers like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a political gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government.
Despite her alliance with Republicans, Trump was quick to snub her following Maduro’s capture. Just hours afterward, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”
Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.
The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the non-governmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.
A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.
Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.
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Janetsky reported from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
Politics8 years ago