The financial services sector occupies a unique position in the cybersecurity threat landscape—simultaneously the most heavily targeted industry and the most stringently regulated. Banks, investment firms, payment processors, and insurance companies manage the sensitive financial data and transaction systems that represent the highest-value targets for cybercriminals, nation-state actors, and organized crime syndicates. The convergence of escalating threat sophistication, expanding regulatory mandates, and the sector's digital transformation has created an environment where traditional perimeter defenses and rules-based security controls prove increasingly inadequate. For financial institutions, the integration of artificial intelligence into cyber defense operations is not merely a technological upgrade but a fundamental requirement for maintaining operational resilience, regulatory compliance, and customer trust in an era where a single breach can result in hundreds of millions i...