Banking Leaders’ Bullish Bets on AI-Driven Growth
Global bank CEOs are treating artificial intelligence as a strategic growth lever, allocating capital to data, models, and cloud platforms while pairing those moves with investments in cybersecurity and environmental, social, governance programs. KPMG’s CEO outlook frames this threefold agenda as the sector’s path to higher returns and stronger resilience.
AI’s Central Role: Investment, Applications, and Return Expectations
Executives report AI as a top investment area and expect material returns within a short investment horizon. Banks are scaling AI across the value chain, with practical deployments including:
- Automated client onboarding and improved KYC through intelligent document processing
- Credit decisioning enriched by alternative data and machine learning scoring
- Real-time fraud detection combining behavioral analytics and anomaly detection
- Back-office process automation that trims cost-to-serve and speeds reconciliation
Leaders are prioritizing production-ready models, data quality, and cloud migration to move from pilots to enterprise-grade AI at scale.
Overcoming Implementation Obstacles
Non-technical barriers remain the primary drag on adoption. Ethics and governance expectations, fragmented data architectures, model explainability, and tightening regulation demand investment in policy, controls, and auditability alongside technology. Talent shortages force banks to choose between hiring specialists and reskilling existing teams.
Beyond Tech: Workforce, Cyber, and ESG as Core Pillars
AI, cybersecurity, and ESG are being treated as an integrated strategy. Strong cyber defenses protect AI assets and customer trust while ESG disclosure and risk management unlock long-term investor confidence. Workforce strategies are shifting toward role redefinition and targeted reskilling so staff can manage model lifecycle, control frameworks, and human-centered customer use cases.
For banking executives, the takeaway is clear. AI offers measurable operational and revenue upside, but realizing that value requires concurrent investment in cyber posture, governance, and people strategy to convert pilots into sustainable advantage.
