JP Morgan Chase has come first in an index ranking AI maturity for the second year in a row.

The Evident AI Index is a global standard benchmark of AI maturity for banks, based on over 100 individual indicators developed in partnership with subject matter experts spanning banking, technology, and benchmarking.

“We are proud that our AI talent, insights and solutions were once again recognised as best-in-class and we are committed to continuing to invest in these capabilities to help us serve our clients and communities better," said Teresa Heitsenrether, chief data & analytics officer, JP Morgan.

Capital One came second place in the index, closely followed by Royal Bank of Canada.

Evident said that the top three banks in the top 50 index are breaking away from the rest of the pack after demonstrating consistently strong performance across all four pillars of the index: talent; innovation; leadership; and transparency.

The index shows that North American banks are dominating when it comes to AI maturity, holding six of the 10 top positions.

In Europe, USB and ING are leading the way having both held onto their top 10 positions in the ranking.

Overall, European banks are lagging behind their North America counterparts, with most Western European banks ranking towards the middle of the index or lower.

The UK failed to make it into the top 10, with HSBC coming in 13th place, NatWest positioning 19th, Barclays in 22nd place, and Lloyds placing the lowest in the index at 28th.

The research found that across the banks in the index there has been a 10 per cent increase in the volume of AI talent between May to September of this year, this compares to a 2.5 per cent reduction in overall headcount.

For AI talent, Capital One proved to be the global leader, while UBS leads in Europe – supported by acquisition of failing bank Credit Suisse earlier this year.

The study found that JP Morgan is leading in the transparency pillar, having rolled out dedicated responsible AI (RAI) teams, published RAI-focused research, established partnerships with academics, and "cemented responsible AI at the heart of the bank's AI agenda". In Europe, HSBC is the most successful in implementing a RAI strategy.

While JP Morgan made it to first position overall, it lost out to the top spot in AI leadership to new entrant DBS.

According to Evident, DBS dominates both in terms of the bank’s external AI narrative and the AI focus of its executive team, ahead of CommBank in 3rd, and BNP Paribas in 4th.

Top 10
JP Morgan Chase
Capital One
Royal Bank of Canada
Wells Fargo
UBS
CommBank
Goldman Sachs
ING
Citigroup
DBS

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