7 mins read
Introduction
According to KPMG’s Banking Strategic Benchmarking Insights 2024, 81% of banking CEOs rank generative AI adoption as a top investment priority. Investors are rewarding banks that take bold steps, while regulators and clients are watching closely. Yet many banks still struggle to turn ambition into measurable execution, often failing to implement AI use cases in a way that delivers real business outcomes.
At the same time, poor execution risks wasted investment, eroded trust, or losing ground to more agile competitors.
The real challenge for commercial banks lies in harmonizing the transformative potential of AI with the timeless, relationship-based foundations of commercial banking.
1. Focus on the north star: client value creation
For all the excitement around AI, the fundamentals of commercial banking remain remarkably constant. Businesses still face the same timeless challenges: smoothing cash flow, accessing growth capital, optimizing payments, and safeguarding against fraud.
What changes is how effectively banks can meet these needs in an environment where speed, transparency, and personalization are expected.
In an episode of Banking Reinvented, Christine Martin, Head of Treasury Management at EverBank, captured this critical takeaway:
Our work comes down to a few core questions: How do we lend our customers money to operate and grow? How do we help them get paid faster? And how do we provide the tools they need to manage their funds and efficiently pay their employees and vendors? These are the fundamental challenges we’ve been solving for decades.
Christine Martin
Head of Treasury Management at EverBank
2. Serve the consumer inside the corporation
In practice, your CFOs, treasurers, and controllers benchmark you against enterprise outcomes, not entertainment apps. The yardstick is:
How quickly can we onboard?
How cleanly do entitlements and approvals map to our org chart?
How well does the bank’s portal and APIs integrate with our ERP/TMS?
How complete is cash visibility across entities and currencies?
How transparent and fast are cross‑border and real‑time rails?
Independent benchmarks echo this. Coalition Greenwich’s Digital Channels framework emphasizes capabilities corporate clients actually grade you on — portal design and navigability, integration, entitlements/authority management, authentication, fraud prevention, onboarding & KYC — because these are the levers that drive “ease of doing business” and satisfaction in commercial banking.
Meeting the new standards of corporate treasury and payments
What corporates now expect from their primary bank aligns with recent treasury research:
Treasury priorities are enterprise‑grade. Deloitte’s Global Corporate Treasury Survey shows treasurers elevating scalable treasury (49%) and focusing tech around cash forecasting, liquidity, and market‑risk use cases (including GenAI) across leading TMS/ERP ecosystems (SAP Treasury, Kyriba, FIS, ION).
Payments transparency is now table stakes. SWIFT reports 90% of cross‑border payments on its network reach the destination bank within an hour, pushing corporates to expect end‑to‑end tracking and predictable SLAs in their bank portals and via APIs.
What to measure internally. Coalition Greenwich’s programs for Onboarding & KYC and Digital Channels explicitly track the commercial levers CEOs care about — cycle time, client effort, entitlements depth, integration maturity, and fraud controls — to prioritize investment where corporates feel it.
“Consumerization” in commercial banking means delivering enterprise-grade usability within the corporate stack. That includes ERP/TMS connectivity, strict entitlements, fast KYC, real-time and cross-border transparency, and built-in fraud controls. Today, this is the competitive baseline and the fastest route to measurable ROI on digital investments.
3. Focus AI where it pays off immediately
Generative AI headlines often center on futuristic use cases, but the most immediate and bankable ROI lies in operational efficiency. Automating compliance reporting, streamlining loan documentation, detecting fraud in real time, and accelerating onboarding all reduce cost-to-serve while freeing human capacity for higher-value engagement.
Vincent Ford, Digital Platform Manager at EverBank, stressed this pragmatic focus:
The big thing for me is… the clients are changing. Technology is changing, so their expectations are changing as well. They want to be up and running as fast as possible, seamless, and make sure their money is safe… always looking for new opportunities for them as well.
Vincent Ford
Digital Platform Manager at EverBank
And on where AI excites him most:
I am looking for operational gains – leveraging AI to tee up conversations, to listen in and just say, ‘Hey, this is what they’re actually talking about, bring up these points.’ Those are the spots I’m getting excited for.
These are immediate use cases that reduce friction for clients and employees. Commercial banks who prioritize operational wins first build momentum, fund bigger bets, and avoid the trap of overpromising AI capabilities that take years to materialize.
4. Augment, don’t replace, human expertise
The narrative of “AI replacing bankers” is both overstated and misguided. The most valuable relationships in commercial banking are built on trust, context, and judgment — qualities no algorithm can replicate. The winning model is augmentation,: AI as a co-pilot that empowers bankers to be more proactive and insightful.
Christine Martin cautioned against unchecked enthusiasm:
The challenge is going to be getting the banks comfortable with that. Now we have to bring along our compliance partners and our legal partners. There are very big concerns, and they’re real. So it’s about doing this in a way that is strategic and controlled.
Christine Martin
Head of Treasury Management at EverBank
This highlights the need for pragmatic innovation: move fast, but with governance and risk frameworks that build confidence with regulators, boards, and clients.
5. Protect your differentiator: relationships
While fintechs excel at delivering speed and specialized, API-driven solutions, they cannot replicate the comprehensive advisory capabilities and deep relationship management that define commercial banking..
A recent global survey by EY confirms this, revealing that even as digital tools become standard, the Relationship Manager (RM) remains the pivotal element for client satisfaction and growth, especially for complex advisory needs .
The strategic imperative, therefore, is not to compete with fintechs on their terms but to create an entirely new standard of value. Banks should use technology to empower their RMs, combining fintech-level digital experiences with the kind of expert, human guidance that fintechs can’t provide.
This fusion of high-tech efficiency and high-touch advice is the definitive competitive advantage for the modern commercial bank.
6. Build a phased roadmap
The institutions that will lead are those that treat AI as a disciplined journey rather than a one-off initiative. Success depends on sequencing capabilities in the right order: laying a strong foundation, driving efficiencies that free up capital, augmenting human expertise, and ultimately reshaping client experiences.
A phased roadmap helps banks move forward with focus and control:
This measured, use-case-driven approach avoids hype cycles and ensures that AI investments deliver tangible returns.
A leadership mindset
Technology alone doesn’t transform banks — leaders do. Both Martin and Ford underscored the importance of listening and alignment in leading change.
Martin reflected:
The key to leadership is listening to your partners, both inside and outside the bank, applying what you learn, and only then leading. That's the lesson I wish I'd known a couple of years ago.
Christine Martin
Head of Treasury Management at EverBank
Ford echoed:
Listening has become essential, both to our teams and our clients, because the pace of technological change is accelerating. Three years ago, I wouldn't have predicted AI would be such a significant force. Seeing how quickly it emerged has been a true game changer, proving you must constantly be listening to see what's next.
Vincent Ford
Digital Platform Manager at EverBank
Winning AI strategies are as much about culture as they are about technology. They require banking leaders to set a tone of openness, discipline, and alignment across business, risk, and innovation teams.
The commercial banking imperative
AI in commercial banking has moved past the hype. What matters now is disciplined execution, pragmatic governance, and forward-looking leadership.
In practice, this translates into six imperatives:
Anchor AI investments in timeless client needs
Meet consumer-grade expectations inside the corporation
Prioritize operational ROI before moonshots
Augment human expertise, don’t replace it
Double down on relationships as your ultimate differentiator
Lead with listening, alignment, and cultural readiness
How Backbase helps commercial banks bridge AI ambition and practical reality
Ultimately, bridging the gap between AI ambition and practical reality in commercial banking requires a strategic approach. By modernizing services with an AI-powered platform like Backbase, banks can achieve greater efficiency, productivity, and scalable revenue growth. This enables the delivery of a balanced mix of digital and human service, alongside a comprehensive portfolio of value-added services that foster loyalty and generate non-interest income.
Backbase’s AI-powered banking platform helps commercial banks facilitate the digitization of operations, empower relationship managers, and provide fintech-grade experiences without compromising trust.
If your bank is ready to define its AI roadmap, book a demo today to begin this transformation with Backbase.
Recorded at Backbase ENGAGE Americas, episode 52 of Banking Reinvented is a deep dive into the rapidly changing commercial banking landscape — and how EverBank is adapting alongside it.
In this episode, host Tim Rutten is joined by two special guests: EverBank’s Christine Martin (Head of Treasury Management) and Vincent Ford (SVP, Digital Platform Manager). Together, they chat about how modern banks in the commercial space are transforming their approach to customer service, leveraging digital technologies, and preparing for a future increasingly shaped by AI.
Tune in to learn about how EverBank is embracing tech advancements to create seamless digital experiences that meet the complex needs of businesses ranging from small enterprises to large corporations.
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