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- with readers working within the Accounting & Consultancy and Construction & Engineering industries
- within Finance and Banking, Food, Drugs, Healthcare, Life Sciences and Strategy topic(s)
Banking CEOs displayed measured optimism, anticipating business and earnings growth while recalibrating M&A toward strategic, value‑adding transactions. Meanwhile AI has moved from pilot to scale — becoming central to operating models, customer experience, fraud detection and cyber defence — with leaders increasingly confident in near‑term ROI. At the same time, CEOs recognised the imperative to build trust in AI, addressing ethical challenges, data readiness, and governance to ensure fair, transparent outcomes.
Banks prioritised reskilling and redeployment, rethinking roles and entry‑level skills to enable human–machine collaboration that boosts productivity without eroding the human touch. Sustainability and compliance are being embedded across risk, credit and finance functions — advancing energy efficiency, climate risk modeling, and more robust ESG reporting.
Explore the report to uncover deeper insights — how banking leaders are scaling AI responsibly, strengthening cyber resilience, reshaping talent, and fine‑tuning deal strategies to advance the banking sector.
The 11th edition of the KPMG CEO Outlook, based on insights from 1,350 CEOs, offers a unique perspective on their mindset, strategies, and planning approaches. This report focuses exclusively on the 110 Banking and Capital Markets CEOs surveyed, representing commercial banking, capital markets and investment banking, retail banking, and organisations operating across multiple segments, including retail, commercial, and investment banking.
Key findings
Why download the report?
By downloading the Banking CEO Outlook report, you will:
- Discover why 83% of banking CEOs are confident in their company's growth prospects, despite ongoing economic change.
- Learn how 65% of CEOs are making AI a top investment priority, with 69% expecting returns on AI within just 1–3 years.
- Find out why 86% of CEOs identify cyber risk as the top factor impacting organisational growth, and how banks are responding with advanced cyber resilience strategies.
- See how 83% of CEOs are prioritising workforce reskilling to unlock AI's potential, while 79% say AI is redefining entry-level skills in banking.
Explore the full report to gain a deeper understanding of the trends, perspectives, and emerging themes shaping the future of banking.
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