UBS is now the only European lender among the top 10 banks judged most advanced in adopting artificial intelligence, after HSBC dropped out of the top tier of the Evident AI Index, while JPMorgan Chase widened its lead and North American banks tightened their grip.
Switzerland's UBS stands alone for Europe in the top ten of an annual league table measuring how far major banks have gone in putting AI to work, as North American lenders led by JPMorgan Chase pull further ahead.
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The ranking, published on Tuesday by Evident, a firm that tracks AI adoption in financial services, rates 50 large lenders in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific using only public data.
Banks are deploying the technology to catch fraud, write software, vet loans and help advisers serve clients, and the 50 lenders have made public over 1,100 distinct uses of AI since 2021.
They are scored on AI talent, which carries the most weight, as well as innovation such as research and patents, leadership focus and transparency on responsible use.
UBS climbed one place to sixth this year, while London-headquartered HSBC, eighth in 2025, slipped to 11th.
European banks dominate the next ten places, including British lenders Lloyds Banking Group, unchanged in 15th, NatWest in 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 lender Capital One. Royal Bank of Canada was third and Australia's CommBank fourth, with six US and two Canadian banks in the top ten.
Evident found that the banks' AI capabilities improved almost three times as fast over the past year as in the three preceding years on average, the quickest progress since it began measuring in 2023.
"This was the year AI in banking went industrial," said Alexandra Mousavizadeh, Evident's co-founder and co-CEO.
Hiring, not firing
Evident also challenged the idea that AI will gut bank workforces, finding that the leaders are still recruiting AI specialists and prioritising growth over job cuts.
That contrasts with London-based Standard Chartered, which said in May it would cut around 7,800 back-office jobs by 2030 as it leans on AI and automation.
Software implementation roles grew 4.3% across the 50 banks 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 stated.
Twelve banks now report a realised or projected return on AI, up from eight, including newcomer Lloyds, which said in January that generative AI delivered around £50 million (€58.8mn) in value in 2025 and should add more than £100 million (€117.6mn) 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 keeping ever more capable AI under control, 80% of the leading banks have advanced safeguards, such as checks on the data that models use and the answers they give, against 40% of the remaining banks in the index.
In the EU, AI used to assess people's creditworthiness is classed as high-risk under the AI Act, though the rules for such systems were pushed back in July to December 2027.
Evident plans to add a fifth pillar to the index in 2027, measuring the outcomes banks actually achieve from AI.
