IBM Study: Generative AI to Boost Bank Financial Performance by 2025

IBM (NYSE: IBM) has released its expectations for technology and transformation in the global financial services industry next year, as presented in the report. IBM Institute for Business Value 2025 Outlook for Banking and Financial Markets.

Key Insights

• Generative AI adoption is about to explode. Only 8% of banks have developed generative AI systematically in 2024, while 78% have approached it tactically. As banks move from pilot projects to execution, they are increasingly redefining their strategies to expand services, including the adoption of AI agents.
• Constant banking convergence is leading to contrasting financial performance. Reimagining the business model and processes, and especially executing them, will be the differentiator between leaders and the rest.
• 601 TP3T surveyed CEOs in the banking sector acknowledge the need to accept some level of risk to gain the benefits of automation and enhance competitiveness.
• While over 161,000 clients worldwide feel comfortable with a fully digital, branchless bank as their primary financial institution, the competition is shifting from offering mass-market digital services to higher-value offerings, including embedded finance and advisory services for high-net-worth investors and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

"We're seeing a significant shift in how generative AI is being deployed in the banking sector, as institutions move from broad experimentation to a strategic approach focused on targeted applications of this powerful technology," said Shanker Ramamurthy, General Manager, Banking and Financial Markets at IBM Consulting. "With banks and other financial institutions globally preparing for a crucial year of investment in transformation, technology, and talent, we anticipate their efforts will focus on using generative AI to enhance the customer experience, increase operational efficiency, reduce risk, and modernize IT infrastructure."

The report shares insights from sentiment analysis of industry leaders, the behavior of banking customers, and economic data from eight major markets—the United States, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, China, India, and Japan—and what financial institutions and their partners can learn from these trends.

For more information and to download the full report, access: https://ibm.co/2025-banking-financial-markets-outlook.