IBM study: Generative AI to boost banks' financial performance in 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

• Only 8% of banks developed generative AI systematically in 2024, while 78% tackled it tactically.As banks move from pilot projects to execution, they are increasingly redefining their strategies for expanding services, including the adoption of AI agents.
• Constant banking convergence is giving way to contrasting financial performances.The reimagining of the business model and processes and, especially, its execution, will be the differential between leaders and others.
• 60% of banking CEOs surveyed acknowledge that they need to accept some level of risk to take advantage of automation and increase competitiveness.
• While more than 16% of customers worldwide feel comfortable with a fully digital, agency-free bank as their primary financial institution, competition is shifting from digital offerings to mass-market to higher-value services, including embedded finance and advisory services for high-income investors and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

“We are seeing a significant shift in how generative AI is being implemented in the banking industry as institutions move from broad experimentation to a strategic approach geared toward targeted applications of this powerful technology”, said Shanker Ramamurthy, general director of Banking and Financial Markets at IBM Consulting. “With banks and other financial institutions around the world preparing for a crucial year of investments in transformation, technology and talent, we anticipate their efforts to focus on using generative AI to enhance the customer experience, increase operational efficiency, reduce risk, and modernize the” IT infrastructure.

The report shares insights from analyzing the sentiment of industry leaders, banking customer behavior 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, go to: https://ibm.co/2025-banking-financial-markets-outlook.