- Key insight: JPMorganChase and Capital One are scaling AI beyond pilots into business-line operations.
- What's at stake: Competitive advantage hinges on who operationalizes AI first.
- Expert quote: Alexandra Mousavizadeh, CEO of Evident, says leaders are hiring AI talent and embedding it into business lines.
Source: Bullets generated by AI with editorial review
JPMorganChase and Capital One made it to the top of Evident's latest ranking of the 50 largest banks in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific by AI capabilities. The Evident AI index was released on Wednesday. The two banks led the previous two lists as well.
"It's a tale of two banks that are very much out in front," Alexandra Mousavizadeh, Evident's CEO, told American Banker. Though the banks are different sizes, they are moving at the same pace, she said.
Both banks jumped significantly in this year's index. JPMorganChase's score increased by nine points; Capital One's by 9.6 points.
Also in the top ten this year were Royal Bank of Canada, CommBank, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, UBS, HSBC, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.
"The first movers seem to be reaping the early benefits of the investments they have made over the past decade," John Ratzan, senior managing director at Accenture, told American Banker. "The sheer amount of investment and focus on this topic seems to be creating differentiation in a market where employees expect to be able to use consumer technologies, like ChatGPT and others, in the business environment."
JPMorganChase also won
Mousavizadeh said the top banks are "loading up more on talent. They've got more use cases in production. They're at this point in time where they're really pushing on scale."
The leaders on the list are hiring more AI specialists, such as mathematicians, people with physics backgrounds and people who understand agentic workflows, she said.
"They're really ramping up on that and hiring more from big tech, and getting that AI product management mindset in from outside of the banking sector, embedding that in the business line, the business and function," Mousavizadeh said.
JPMorganChase and Capital One are starting to shift some of the responsibility for AI transformation work to business leaders, she said.
"It's now on the business head to think about rewiring the entire line business," she said. "Some of the other banks are not there yet, but the JPMorgans and Capital Ones are doing it," she said.
The AI leaders in financial services have become more vocal about their AI projects, Mousavizadeh said. They're issuing press releases, giving media interviews and providing dedicated web pages documenting their AI activity.
"That is partly down to the maturing of ROI frameworks and more visibility for shareholders," she said.
Evident has data trackers set up to monitor banks' use cases, research papers, patents and ventures. It relies on public information to determine its ranking, but it also receives some data privately from banks that helps validate the rankings.
"We are proud to be recognized for the third consecutive year as a leader in leveraging AI for the benefit of our employees, clients, and communities," Teresa Heitsenrether, chief data and analytics officer at JPMorganChase, told American Banker.
Despite the dominance of large banks with multibillion-dollar technology budgets at the top of Evident's list, small banks can catch up, Mousavizadeh said.
"I really do think it's possible for smaller banks to compete, but by and large, if you're small and you're late, then you can't compete," she said.
Ratzan also noted that small banks could be nimbler in certain pockets, "and especially fintechs, who may not face the same level of regulatory scrutiny and may be able to move faster as a result."
This year, Evident identified $190 billion-asset Ally Financial as a disruptor. Sathish Muthukrishnan, the bank's chief information, data and digital officer, was American Banker's 2024
"They're too small to make it into our index, and yet we looked at them, and saw they're doing a lot of incredible work and they're fast and they're organized," Mousavizadeh said. "So you can absolutely defy the odds. Being resistant is a bad strategy."
