In 2027, AI will push banks to rebuild how they run, Backbase predicts

Amsterdam, 12 November 2026 - Backbase today released Banking Predictions 2027, its annual report on ten major trends that will shape the banking industry in the year ahead. As financial institutions face macroeconomic margin compression and stricter oversight, the report highlights an urgent strategic divide: banks that operationalize governed AI agents will scale revenue and service capacity, while institutions that remain reliant on isolated pilots risk obsolescence.

This year, experts from McKinsey & Company, Endava, Jet Bank and beyond weigh in on industry-wide and segment-specific trends. From production-stage deployment to conversational banking, the report reveals that while AI is within reach for every segment, the real breakthrough occurs when banks embed the technology directly into their underlying operating model. Yet, deploying agentic and maintaining firm control over its actions are two distinct—though necessarily united—imperatives.

“Banks can rent AI models, but they have to own the accountability for what those agents do. That changes the operating model itself, as agents become colleagues and people stay accountable for the decisions that matter.”

Jouk Pleiter, Founder and CEO of Backbase

To navigate this shift, the report outlines three focused steps to start small and build as you go: pick one high-friction journey that matters, measure it against clear financial baselines, and lay down reusable data and governance foundations that make every subsequent case faster to launch.

New operational standard required to lead banking in 2027: Five industry predictions

1. The era of AI pilots ends. While 23% of financial institutions currently run agentic AI in production, the pilot phase is closing. Leading institutions are moving away from isolated pilots toward centralized orchestration platforms that build reusable capabilities, automate high-friction steps, and integrate compliance from Day One.

“The shift to agentic AI is happening much faster than banks think…. Models will continue to improve, but the work organizations need to do to integrate them into their operations and prepare for new distribution channels cannot wait.”

Panagiotis Kriaris, Senior Advisor, Fintech, Payments and Banking

2. The AI spending spree meets its audit. 36% of the world’s major banks are expecting to more than double their AI budget. Yet, of the use cases announced by the world’s 50 largest banks, only 30% came with impact metrics. In 2027, bank executives and boards will demand proof that AI pays its way, use case by use case. Banks that match each task to the right-sized model, continuously measure value, and ask vendors for evidence will defend their budgets, while unproven projects lose funding.

“In 2027, every AI line item in banking will have to justify itself like any other investment, with a baseline, a running cost, and a return. Leaders that can’t show all three will see their budgets move to teams that can.”

Greg Fahy, CTO Digital Banking at Backbase

3. Ungoverned agents become banking’s next big risk. As banks move from single assistants to teams of agents, written policies alone will no longer satisfy regulators. Instead, institutions must assign verified cryptographic identities to individual agents and check each action in real time, so as to maintain audit-ready action logs and be able to switch off any agent on demand.

“2027 will be a big change when it comes to AI: how responsibly we use it and to what extent…. As we scale, accountability must remain clear: we are responsible for every decision and every customer outcome. Trust, security and regulatory discipline have to be built in from the start and by the bank.”

Fatbardha Rino, Founder and CEO at Jet Bank

4. Agents force banks to rewrite their operating model. As agents become full-fledged teammates, banks must redesign roles, structures, and processes around them. Starting in the back-office “messy middle,” agents will prepare the work and people will make the calls, turning individual productivity gains into a different kind of elastic organization.

“Launching pilot initiatives and testing AI use cases is relatively straightforward. The greater challenge lies in transforming the organization itself by building the right culture, fostering the right behaviours, and creating the conditions that enable AI to scale sustainably and deliver meaningful business value.”

Rosanna Fornarino, COO at Judobank

5. Banking apps give way to conversational interfaces. Customers have been trained to ask AI for what they want and need, with 14% of consumers globally letting AI select financial providers on their behalf. Banks that know, coach, and act for customers with consent will put idle money to work and keep those valuable relationships before a third-party assistant can intervene.

“There’s already a high degree of comfort across generations with interacting through conversational AI. The bank has to be ready for the person at its front door to be an agent.”

Eugene Deeny, Lead Industry Advisor, Banking and Capital Markets at Endava

Find the full Backbase Banking Predictions 2027 report, including segment-specific predictions, here.