Switzerland's UBS now stands as the only European lender in the top ten of a closely watched ranking of artificial intelligence adoption in banking, as North American institutions led by JPMorgan Chase extend their dominance. The annual Evident AI Index, published on Tuesday by the London-based firm Evident, evaluates 50 major banks across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific using only publicly available data.
The index measures how banks are deploying AI to detect fraud, write software, assess loan applications and support client advisers. Since 2021, the 50 lenders have disclosed more than 1,100 distinct uses of AI. Scoring weighs AI talent most heavily, followed by innovation such as research and patents, leadership focus, and transparency around responsible use.
UBS climbed one place to sixth this year, while London-headquartered HSBC, which ranked eighth in 2025, slipped to 11th. European banks fill much of the next tier, including British lenders Lloyds Banking Group (unchanged at 15th), NatWest (17th) and Barclays, which rose four places to 19th.
JPMorgan Chase, which ranked in the top two in all four categories, widened its lead over second-placed US rival Capital One. Royal Bank of Canada took third, and Australia's CommBank fourth. Six US and two Canadian banks now occupy the top ten, underscoring the transatlantic gap.
AI in banking goes industrial
Evident found that the AI capabilities of the leading banks improved almost three times faster over the past year than in the three preceding years on average — the quickest progress since the index began in 2023. “This was the year AI in banking went industrial,” said Alexandra Mousavizadeh, Evident's co-founder and co-CEO.
The report also challenges the notion that AI will decimate bank workforces. The top performers are still hiring AI specialists and prioritising growth over job cuts, even as some institutions reduce headcount. London-based Standard Chartered, for example, said in May it would cut around 7,800 back-office roles by 2030 as it leans on automation.
Software implementation roles across the 50 banks grew by 4.3% over the past year. US bank Morgan Stanley is reinvesting more than one million developer hours freed up by its DevGen.AI platform rather than trimming IT teams, while UBS's STAAT Insights tool saves its advisers roughly 1,200 hours a week. “Roles are changing, and some are not being backfilled, but the banks at the top of our Index are growing, and growing headcount,” Mousavizadeh said.
Twelve banks now report a realised or projected return on AI, up from eight a year earlier. Newcomer Lloyds said in January that generative AI delivered around £50 million (€58.8 million) in value in 2025 and should add more than £100 million (€117.6 million) this year. “With AI budgets at record levels, the banks that can prove their returns will keep the money flowing to the right places,” said Daniel Shackleford Capel, managing director of banking at Evident.
Amid growing concern over controlling increasingly capable AI, 80% of the leading banks have advanced safeguards, such as checks on the data models use and the answers they generate, compared with 40% of the remaining banks in the index. In the European Union, AI used to assess people's creditworthiness is classified as high-risk under the AI Act, though the rules for such systems were pushed back in July to December 2027.
For Europe, the ranking underscores a broader challenge: while the continent's banks are adopting AI, they are doing so at a slower pace than their North American counterparts. The recent surge in European property prices and other regional economic trends may influence how banks prioritise technology investments, but the AI gap remains a strategic concern for the sector.
