KPMG CEO Outlook – UK

2026 CEO Outlook

KPMG’s CEO Outlook is an annual survey of global business leaders, providing insights on what’s keeping them up at night and where they’re prioritising investment. The 2026 CEO Outlook is based on a survey of 1,400 CEOs, who lead organisations with revenues of at least US$500 million and are representative of the world’s biggest economies and key industries.

This is our analysis of responses from the 150 UK CEOs who took part in our research. They represent some of the biggest companies in the UK, with 71% leading firms with revenues over $1 billion. Over two-thirds (67%) oversee publicly traded businesses.

Growth and resilience

UK CEOs are focusing on building long-term resilience in the face of ongoing, interrelated challenges.

96% say resilience planning has moved from short- to long-term.
#1 investment to mitigate risks: cybersecurity and digital risks resilience.
#1 capability for today’s CEO: greater agility and faster decision-making under pressure.

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Tech and AI

UK CEOs continue to see AI as an investment priority, but are recognising the challenges as they scale up.

82% say AI is a top investment priority over the next three years.
87% expect to achieve ROI within three years.
81% say ethical considerations are challenging to implementing AI.

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Talent

CEOs are focused on attracting and retaining the skills needed in an AI-enabled organisation.

85% are redesigning roles, career paths and team structure to reflect human-AI collaboration.
77% are hiring new talent with AI and tech capabilities.
80% say the integration of AI has made them rethink entry-level skills.

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Sustainability

CEOs continue to see sustainability as critical to success and are embedding it in investment decisions.

87% say they’ve fully embedded sustainability and it is critical to long-term success. 
71% say addressing sustainability issues is important to business longevity, but the public debate is a distraction.
69% say stakeholder expectations about sustainability change faster than they’re able to adapt strategy.

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KPMG 2026 KPMG CEO Outlook

Find out what UK CEOs are prioritising.

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The story in 2026 is one of resilience

CEOs are feeling under more pressure than ever before as they seek to navigate a world of ongoing complexity and disruption. They’re wrestling with complex and integrated risks in the form of economic uncertainty, geopolitical instability, regulatory fragmentation, and rapid technological change. And those risks show no sign of ending any time soon.

In response, UK CEOs have shifted their resilience planning agenda from short-term to long-term over the past year. They’re maintaining their investment in AI – to help improve resilience and productivity. They’re increasing investment in regulatory compliance and reporting. They’re upping their efforts to attract and retain the skills needed in an AI-enabled organisation. And they’re integrating sustainability considerations when they make investment decisions.

Despite the challenges, UK CEOs are upbeat, with 86% confident in the growth prospects for their company and 81% for their industry.

Our 2026 CEO Outlook survey is a temperature check of the current UK business mood. Despite the constant unpredictability of the global trading environment, the chief executives of some of the UK's biggest companies are optimistic in the performance and future growth prospects of their businesses. The challenge now is being able to turn optimism into investment and jobs to drive growth. But with confidence in the global economy dropping, there is no time to stand still, and chief executives have shifted their resilience planning timelines, invested in AI for productivity gains and have become more agile at decision making.

Jon Holt

Senior Partner and Group Chief Executive

KPMG in the UK and Switzerland

UK CEOs on growth, resilience and AI

Jon Holt, UK Senior Partner and Group Chief Executive of KPMG UK and Switzerland, shares his views on growth, resilience, AI and the key leadership capabilities required by today’s CEO.

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