These Banks Are Leading The AI Race—But Where’s The Payoff?
By CU Today Staff —
LONDON— JPMorganChase, Capital One and Royal Bank of Canada remain the three global leaders in banking artificial intelligence as AI deployment across the industry accelerates sharply, according to the 2026 Evident AI Index for Banks.
JPMorganChase ranked first overall, followed by Capital One and RBC, with CommBank and Wells Fargo rounding out the top five.
The annual index evaluates AI adoption and maturity at 50 of the world’s largest banks in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific using 75 indicators and millions of data points across four categories: talent, innovation, leadership and transparency. JPMorganChase ranked first or second in all four categories, while Capital One ranked first in talent and innovation. RBC ranked second in leadership and third in transparency.
Evident found AI deployment among banks accelerated more during the past 12 months than at any time since the index launched in 2023. The average bank's score increased 26%, or 9.6 points, nearly three times the average pace of improvement seen from 2023 through 2025. The leadership group, however, has remained relatively stable, with every bank in this year's top 10 having previously ranked in the top 10.
The report also found banks still have considerable work to do demonstrating AI's financial payoff. Just 12% of reported AI use cases disclosed an impact against operational performance measures, while barely 1% reported concrete financial returns. Twelve banks now report a realized or projected return from their overall AI activities, up from eight a year ago, while 80% of leading banks have adopted sophisticated AI control mechanisms compared with 40% of the rest of the industry.
Originally reported by CU Today.