Banks worldwide increased their profits by seven percent to 1.3 trillion dollars last year. Revenues before risk costs rose by three percent to 6.4 trillion dollars. Both figures mark new highs, according to the Global Banking Annual Review 2026 by the management consultancy McKinsey.

Profits at Swiss banks developed even more strongly. At the same time, assets under management reached a new record high. The strong profitability and the heavy focus on the comparatively less capital-intensive wealth management business mean that Swiss bank shares are valued higher than those of European and other international institutions.

Switzerland ahead of Europe in digital offerings

Switzerland also performs comparatively well in the use of digital banking services. According to McKinsey, acceptance of digital platform offerings in this country is two to three percentage points above the European benchmark.

Digital financial platforms have been able to multiply their customer numbers and profits in Switzerland in some cases over the past five years. McKinsey expects artificial intelligence to further accelerate this development.

However, there is a difference between the use of digital offerings and the introduction of artificial intelligence. In particular, large international banking groups have significantly higher investment budgets and more extensive technical infrastructures than many Swiss institutions when it comes to the latter.

India and Brazil far ahead in AI use

For the international study, McKinsey surveyed around 46,000 bank customers in thirteen countries. Switzerland was not part of the survey. On average, 23 percent of respondents already use generative AI for financial matters, such as comparing banking products or for investment questions. However, there are clear differences between markets.

Usage is especially widespread in India, Brazil and Mexico. European markets are mostly lagging behind. Germany and France are among the countries with the lowest use of AI for banking.

It is also noteworthy where bank customers use artificial intelligence. Of the users, 74 percent rely on external platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. Traditional banks are therefore losing some of their direct access to their customers.

Bank customers continue to trust their institutions

For banks, however, there is one important advantage: customer trust. Sixty-two percent of the AI users surveyed would prefer to obtain corresponding services and financial advice from their current bank.

At the same time, 72 percent would be willing to delegate at least one financial task to an AI agent. However, most want to give explicit approval before a transaction.

For banks, this opens up new business opportunities, for example through digital financial assistants that monitor payment flows, compare investment alternatives or automatically manage liquidity.

The economic potential is shown by another McKinsey study: for 52 analyzed use cases involving so-called AI agents, the investments paid for themselves on average after around ten months. Over three years, McKinsey calculated a return on invested capital of around 2.9 times.

Source: McKinsey

Swiss banks need to accelerate

In international comparison, the size of institutions could increasingly prove to be a competitive advantage. According to McKinsey, North America is the center of AI development. There, banks benefit from direct access to leading technology companies, research institutions and specialized talent.

McKinsey therefore sees a need for action among Swiss banks. The financial center is highly fragmented and includes numerous smaller institutions that cannot keep pace with the largest international competitors when it comes to investment and technological development.

Jan Quensel, head of the Swiss Banking Practice at McKinsey, names two key priorities: banks must improve their visibility in the digital customer world while also equipping their own digital and physical distribution channels with AI.

The decisive factors are the size of the institutions and the broad application of new technologies within the banks.