The Quality Imperative: Why financial services must rethink testing in 2025

PractiTest’s State of Testing 2025 Report reveals a complex mix of progress and uncertainty. But for financial services firms, the implications of current testing trends are clear: quality assurance should no longer be viewed as a purely technical concern.

In this month’s Assured Thought blog, Laura Philbin, our Head of Operations, explores the changes in the testing profession – and highlights how your firm might use QA as a strategic capability to underpin trust, compliance and competitive edge.

Here's something worth considering: whilst testing teams are getting bigger and automation is advancing, a record 27% of testing professionals say they have no idea where they'll be in five years. That's up from 17% just last year.

This trend reflects the significant changes in the testing profession. The people responsible for ensuring systems work properly are navigating a period of uncertainty regarding their roles and the future of quality assurance. For financial services, where software reliability directly impacts customer trust and regulatory compliance, understanding these shifts is particularly important.

The State of Testing 2025 Report reveals an industry evolving rapidly. Testing teams are expanding. AI tools are emerging. Automation is spreading. Beneath these surface trends lies a complex picture of what quality means in financial services and how organisations can best measure and achieve it.

Evolving beyond traditional metrics

The percentage of organisations using Net Promoter Score as a QA metric declined from 18% to 14% this year. In contrast, the focus on traditional metrics remains strong: 56% of organisations are using test coverage, 50% are using defects found, and 45% are using test execution speed – all metrics that measure testing activity and technical outputs.

However, despite the Net Promoter Score metric decline, there is a growing conversation in the industry about connecting testing efforts more directly to business outcomes and customer experience. In financial services, where digital experience increasingly differentiates competitors, this connection is particularly valuable.

When a trading platform experiences issues during market volatility, or a banking app encounters problems during an urgent transfer, the impact extends beyond technical metrics to customer satisfaction and trust. Some leading organisations are exploring ways to measure quality assurance in terms that reflect these broader business impacts.

This might include tracking customer satisfaction trends alongside defect rates or correlating testing investment with customer retention – the goal being to create a more complete picture of how QA contributes to business success.

AI adoption: Taking a measured approach

Nearly half of testing professionals (46%) aren't using AI tools yet. Among those who have adopted them, most are focusing on foundational use cases: 41% for test case creation, 18% for test data management.

This measured pace reflects genuine considerations. Data privacy and security concerns top the list of barriers (56% of respondents). For financial services firms operating under GDPR, PSD2 and FCA requirements, these concerns are entirely appropriate. The challenge is finding ways to leverage AI's benefits whilst maintaining the data governance standards that customers and regulators expect.

AI’s potential benefits are encouraging: organisations that have implemented AI successfully report 46% improvement in test automation efficiency and 35% better test data generation. For firms managing extensive regression testing requirements and complex test data needs, these improvements could be valuable.

A pragmatic approach might involve starting with lower-risk applications like test case optimisation and documentation, establishing robust data governance frameworks and expanding gradually as teams build confidence and capability. This would allow your organisation to learn and adapt whilst managing risk appropriately.

The fact that 33% cite lack of skilled personnel as a barrier suggests an opportunity for investment in training and development, helping teams build the capabilities needed to use these tools effectively.

The growing importance of communication

One of the most significant shifts in this year's report is communication skills becoming the top priority for testing professionals, increasing from 59% to 75%. At the same time, the emphasis on specific technical skills has decreased, with functional test automation down from 55% to 41% and API testing down from 55% to 34%.

Rather than a diminishing importance being placed on technical capability, this shift reflects the evolving nature of testing roles. Technical skills remain essential, but what increasingly distinguishes effective testing teams is their ability to articulate quality issues in business terms that resonate across different stakeholder groups.

This capability is particularly valuable in financial services. When testing teams identify potential security vulnerabilities or compliance gaps, communicating the business and regulatory implications clearly helps ensure appropriate resources and attention.

The trend also reflects how software development works in regulated industries today. Testing is increasingly embedded throughout development processes, requiring ongoing collaboration with developers, compliance officers, risk managers, product owners and business analysts. Teams that can navigate these relationships effectively tend to have greater influence and impact.

Increasing influence in release decisions

The report shows 86% of organisations now give testing teams a voice in release decisions, up from 81%. This represents positive progress in recognising the strategic importance of quality assurance.

In financial services, where releases can affect regulatory compliance and customer trust, many organisations are developing more structured approaches to release governance. They often involve establishing clear criteria for release readiness that balance speed to market with appropriate risk management.

Some firms are implementing frameworks that define specific thresholds and decision-making processes for different types of releases. This provides clarity for all teams about how quality considerations factor into release timing and what escalation paths exist when issues arise.

The 7% who responded 'I don't know' to the question of whether their testing team has influence suggests an opportunity for organisations to communicate their governance processes more clearly, ensuring all team members understand how decisions are made.

Addressing career development and retention

The increase in career uncertainty among testing professionals deserves attention. Beyond the 27% who are unsure about their future, fewer testers envision themselves remaining in traditional testing roles (down from 35% to 29%) or moving into consultancy positions (from 26% to 21%).

Testing in financial services requires deep institutional knowledge: understanding of complex systems, regulatory requirements, risk models and technology landscapes. Retaining and developing this expertise is valuable for organisational continuity and effectiveness.

Several factors appear to be contributing to this uncertainty: rapid technological changes, questions about career progression paths and concerns about how automation and AI might reshape roles.

Your organisation can address this through clear career development frameworks that show progression opportunities from junior roles to senior quality leadership positions. This might include paths to specialise in domains such as security testing, compliance automation, performance engineering and test architecture.

Making testing leadership more visible within your organisation will also help. When team members see their area of expertise represented in strategic discussions, they’ll understand how quality assurance contributes to business success, making it easier for them to envision long-term career paths.

The continued evolution of automation

Automation continues to advance at a steady pace. The percentage of organisations in which automation has replaced 75% or more of manual testing has grown from 18% to 20%, whilst those reporting no automation impact declined from 26% to 14%.

For financial services, this gradual progression reflects the complexity of the environment. Organisations are taking time to automate thoughtfully, considering factors like regulatory changes, complex business rules and integration with existing systems.

Many mature organisations are adopting a layered approach: investing heavily in automation for high-value, high-frequency tests (regulatory compliance checks, critical transaction flows, security validations) whilst maintaining manual approaches for exploratory testing, user experience validation and edge case analysis, where human judgement adds particular value.

The 29% of organisations reporting that automation has replaced only 25% or less of their manual testing may well be making deliberate choices about where automation provides the best return on investment. This reflects an understanding that automation is a tool to be applied strategically rather than a goal in itself.

Five opportunities for financial services leaders

1. Explore outcome-based metrics

Consider how to complement activity-based metrics with measures that reflect business impact. They might include customer satisfaction trends, operational resilience indicators or ‘time to resolve’ statistics for customer-impacting issues. The goal is to create a richer picture of how quality assurance contributes to business success.

2. Develop a thoughtful AI strategy

Create a phased approach to AI adoption that balances efficiency gains with data security and regulatory compliance requirements. Starting with lower-risk use cases and building governance frameworks will provide a foundation for broader adoption over time.

3. Invest in communication and collaboration skills

Support your team's development in areas such as stakeholder communication, business acumen and cross-functional collaboration. These capabilities complement technical skills and help testing teams to have greater influence and impact.

4. Clarify release governance

Review and communicate your organisation's approach to making release decisions. Clear criteria and processes help all teams understand how quality considerations factor into release timing and provide confidence that appropriate risk management is in place.

5. Create clear career pathways

Develop visible career progression frameworks that show the opportunities available within testing and quality assurance. This will help your organisation with both attraction and retention of talent – particularly important given the specialised knowledge required in financial services.

Quality as strategic capability

In financial services, quality assurance directly impacts customer trust, regulatory standing and competitive position. The organisations that thrive will be those that recognise testing as a strategic capability – something deserving of investment and development – rather than simply a technical function.

The data suggests significant evolution is underway. Teams are growing, technology is advancing and new tools are emerging. At the same time, questions remain about the best ways to measure success, adopt new capabilities and develop talent.

The leaders who navigate this period successfully will be those who make thoughtful choices about metrics, technology adoption and talent development – and recognise how quality assurance integrates with broader business strategy.

The shaping of this evolution at your firm holds an opportunity to ensure a QA approach that sees your organisation well positioned to take on the challenges and opportunities ahead.

*Analysis based on the State of Testing 2025 Report, which surveyed testing professionals globally.