JP Morgan Chase retained top spot for artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, while the UK’s biggest banks grouped in the chasing pack, according to Evident’s benchmark.
In the 2026 AI index, Evident’s top 10 contains six US-headquartered banks and two based in Canada, while Switzerland’s UBS was Europe’s only representative, and Australia’s CommBank also made up the group. UK bank HSBC came in at number 11, Lloyds Banking Group 15, NatWest 17 and Barclays 19.
A total of 50 banks were assessed, with the survey reporting that AI capabilities advanced nearly three times faster over the past year than the average across the previous three years.
“This was the year AI in banking went industrial. Banks across the AI index are moving faster than at any point since we began measuring,” said Alexandra Mousavizadeh, co-CEO at Evident.
In the latest research, the number of banks that reported a return or projected a return across their AI activities is up to 12 out of 50, an improvement from eight last year, with Lloyds Banking Group one of the latest banks to achieve this milestone, said the research report. Lloyds Bank recently said that all customer interactions will be supported by AI by 2030 and that it is targeting £100m in value generation.
Guardrail differentiation
Evident said that with public fears and regulatory scrutiny around the use of AI, banks that are investing in AI controls are moving ahead: “As public debate mounts over whether increasingly powerful AI systems can be kept under control, the banks pulling ahead are the ones investing hardest in AI guardrails: sophisticated controls are in place at 80% of the leading banks, against 40% of the rest.”
To this end, the research found that “responsible AI principles are near-universal” now, with 49 of the 50 banks surveyed adopting them, which is 16 more than in 2023.
Evident found that 80% of the leading AI-adopting banks use sophisticated controls, such as checks on what AI systems are fed and what they produce, as well as monitoring once they are live. This compared to just 40% of the wider group surveyed. Furthermore, recruitment of AI governance experts increased 33% year over year (YoY) in the entire group of 50 banks.
Mousavizadeh said that it is what banks add around AI models, including governance, that differentiates the leaders from the chasers: “What separates the leaders is everything they have built around their models, from the data and plumbing to the guardrails, and the habit of building something once and scaling it everywhere. That foundation is what allows them to put AI into production at pace.”
It is the investment in the wider AI strategies that has made banking a leading industry for AI adoption. Daniel Shackleford Capel, managing director of banking at Evident, said banks are creating a blueprint for other industries to follow, but still need to fine-tune strategies.
“The leading banks are focusing on where AI will deliver the greatest impact and not on using AI to cut their way to savings. But while most banks can now show that AI makes work faster, demonstrating what that means for the bottom line is a different story,” he said.
“Ultimately, those are the metrics every bank will need to determine which of its hundreds of AI projects to scale. With AI budgets at record levels, the banks that can prove their returns will keep the money flowing to the right places.”
