As AI investment soars, financial institutions that share their AI strategies publicly are performing better than those keeping their efforts under wraps. 

A report released this month by research company Evident Insights found that banks with strong AI communication strategies outperform their peers in stock price performance. The survey uses four indicators including strategy, communication, executive positioning and operating model to rank 23 of the largest banks in the world, including Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, on their communications about AI use.

Evident found a direct correlation between banks that speak out about their strategies and overall AI maturity, Evident Chief Executive and co-founder Alexandra Mousavizadeh told Bank Automation News. These banks are communicating their strategies on tech spend, AI use cases and AI implementation, among other topics. 

The following five banks ranked the highest in the report across AI communication leadership: JPMorgan Chase, TD Bank, BNP Paribas, Intesa Sanpaolo and UBS. The banks’ stocks performed 1.7 times better than other banks, Evident reports, due to their outpouring of AI communication to shareholders, employees and the public across media outlets, news releases, speaking engagements and investor relations materials. 

The banks that are leading in AI maturity are being clear about explaining their AI approach. Other banks can do the following to improve their AI communication efforts:  

• Embed AI as a key strategy: Banks should prioritize executive communication of all AI efforts. This offers shareholders, investors and bank employees insight into tech spend and AI strategy. 
• Quantify and communicate AI use cases in production: Banks should discuss AI use cases in action, and further explain expected return on investment.  
• Communicate business value generated from AI efforts: According to the report, of the 23 analyzed, only four banks, BNP Paribas, DBS Bank, JPMorgan Chase and Societe Generale, are prioritizing AI as a strategy, consistently communicating use cases and discussing ROI of AI investment. 

The report found: 

• 54% of banks have expressed AI as supporting strategy through company communications, including shareholder letters, annual reports, investor materials or website postings; 
• 76% of banks share AI use case implementations across operations; and 
• 44% of banks provide details of AI-driven projects in the works. 

JPM leads the charge 

JPMorgan leads in AI strategy communication, according to the report. The $3.7 trillion bank publicly discusses how it’s aligning its structure with big tech, announces AI innovation and provides updates on changes in data infrastructure and innovation structures, Mousavizadeh said. 

The bank has disclosed the following on public platforms over the past year:  

• AI talent: The bank has more than 1,000 people involved in data management, 900 data scientists and 600 machine learning engineers; 
• Projected business value: JPM will deliver more than $1.5 billion in business value from AI and ML efforts in 2023; and 
• AI research: The bank has dedicated 200 people to AI research. 

Q3 earnings  

This week U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and PNC, will report Q3 2023 earnings — with AI updates expected to be part of the conversation.  

Evident will be listening for AI communication within those earnings and looking at the organizational structure and “what the CEO is saying” when it comes to AI strategy, Mousavizadeh told BAN.