A recent report from Evident, a platform focused on AI benchmarking, has revealed a 13% rise in AI employment among major global banks.
This increase in AI personnel has occurred over two years, despite ongoing market fluctuations.
The analysis shows that currently, one in every 50 banking employees holds a role specifically related to AI.
In the last six months, banks have broadened their workforce in AI-related fields, with AI development growing by 6%, data engineering by 14%, and AI software implementation by 42% (off a smaller base).
The Evident AI Index identifies the ten largest employers of AI talent, which collectively represent 48% of the banking sector’s AI workforce.
These institutions have seen a 12% increase in AI personnel since the last report in October 2024.
Notably, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, and BBVA have surpassed the growth rate of the overall index.
The top ten banks by AI talent include JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Bank of America, Capital One, UBS, BNP Paribas, BBVA, HSBC, and Barclays.
Evident’s AI Talent in Banking Report is based on an evaluation of global AI hiring trends in the banking sector.
The findings suggest a link between investment in AI personnel and a bank’s ability to implement AI use cases, assess return on investment (ROI), and scale AI adoption across various business lines.
The report indicates that the leading ten banks are twice as likely to disclose AI use cases and 1.5 times more likely to report positive ROI from these initiatives.
BBVA is stated to be the only bank on the leaderboard that exceeds average growth benchmarks across all capability areas, achieving an 18% increase in AI talent while expanding its “AI Factories” with new centres of excellence in Mexico and Turkey.
Additionally, four banks, consisting of CommBank, BNY, TD Bank, and Lloyds Banking Group, are also increasing their AI workforce by over 21%, aiming to close the gap with top performers.
Capital One and JPMorgan Chase—the top two performers in the Evident AI Index—are outpacing Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Bank of America in growth.
Wells Fargo and Bank of America continue to hire aggressively for AI development roles (AI model and algorithm builders), signalling a common strategic focus on modernising retail operations and advancing digital and mobile services.
Evident co-founder and CEO Alexandra Mousavizadeh said: “Our data suggests that AI roles may be the only safe jobs in banking right now.
“Away from the market noise and volatility, the leading banks are quietly but relentlessly pressing forward with AI transformation. They’re adding talent with increased precision, laser-targeting their efforts on where hiring will help scale AI use cases that deliver measurable value.”
