Automation changes the economics of operations
Where robotics, autonomous operations and intelligent control can create material gains in throughput, safety and service performance.
Read articleFinancial institutions are operating through another reset in rates, technology and market structure rather than returning to a stable post-inflation banking environment
We see banks and capital-markets businesses balancing balance-sheet economics and regulatory resilience with AI adoption, digital competition and changing client expectations.
Banking and capital markets enter September 2026 with monetary policy, funding costs and market volatility again capable of shifting quickly. At the same time, AI is moving deeper into information processing and operating workflows, while digital challengers continue expanding toward broader banking relationships. Regulatory expectations around resilience, technology and financial stability are rising alongside the opportunity to simplify costly legacy processes. The strategic question is increasingly how institutions can combine balance-sheet strength, trusted customer relationships and regulated infrastructure with materially different technology economics without allowing transformation to outpace control.
Focus
Banking is entering an era of faster markets and more programmable money
AI, tokenization and stablecoins are beginning to change trading, payments and financial infrastructure while regulation remains uneven.
Read nowStrategic Challenges
Can banks modernize finance without creating faster forms of systemic risk?
The challenge is capturing AI and digital-asset efficiencies while managing concentration, cyber exposure and increasingly synchronized markets.
Read nowStrategic Impacts
AI and tokenization are widening the strategic choices available to banks
New infrastructure can reshape trading, payments and fee economics while changing the speed and interconnectedness of financial activity.
Read nowObserved Patterns
Banks often treat AI as a productivity program when it is becoming market infrastructure
As automated decisions spread across trading and credit, shared models and technology dependencies can create risks beyond individual firms.
Read nowStrategic Challenges
Can banks modernize finance without creating faster forms of systemic risk?
The challenge is capturing AI and digital-asset efficiencies while managing concentration, cyber exposure and increasingly synchronized markets.
Read nowStrategic Impacts
AI and tokenization are widening the strategic choices available to banks
New infrastructure can reshape trading, payments and fee economics while changing the speed and interconnectedness of financial activity.
Read nowObserved Patterns
Banks often treat AI as a productivity program when it is becoming market infrastructure
As automated decisions spread across trading and credit, shared models and technology dependencies can create risks beyond individual firms.
Read nowIndustry Challenge
Banks must protect returns as credit, funding and market risks become less linear
Banks are entering a more complex earnings environment in which credit demand, funding costs, sovereign risk and market volatility can move in different directions across regions. Higher-for-longer rate scenarios may support margins in some franchises but weaken borrowers, valuations and transaction activity elsewhere. At the same time, cyber threats, AI adoption and tighter supervisory expectations raise the cost of control. The challenge is to preserve profitable growth while maintaining capital flexibility, stronger early-warning capabilities and a clearer view of how shocks can propagate.
Future Outlook
Banking will become more automated, tokenized and increasingly intelligent
The future banking model will combine stronger digital distribution with AI-enabled decision systems, increasingly programmable financial infrastructure and more automated operations. Tokenized assets and deposits may improve settlement and liquidity in selected markets, while AI can reshape service, risk, compliance and productivity. The strategic issue will be trust: institutions will need to modernize without weakening control over data, models, identity or financial crime. Banks able to integrate technology, capital allocation and risk governance will be positioned to compete on execution.
Market Outlook
Cross-border credit is expanding while financial-system vulnerabilities persist
Banking activity remains resilient in 2026, with BIS data showing cross-border bank credit up strongly year on year through the first quarter and lending growth broad across instruments and counterparties. Conditions are nevertheless uneven: monetary-policy paths are diverging, sovereign and private-credit vulnerabilities remain in focus, and geopolitical energy shocks are affecting risk appetite in several markets. Capital markets have remained functional, but stretched valuations and cyber risk linked to frontier AI have increased supervisory attention.
POV
Financial institutions may soon need to manage machines as market participants
AI is compressing decision time in finance, making governance and operational resilience part of market structure itself.
Read nowOur approach
Read financial institutions through the interaction of balance-sheet economics, client franchises and technology
Our approach� starts with the economic engine of the institution: funding, capital, risk-adjusted returns, customer relationships, transaction flows and operating cost. We then connect these foundations with regulation, market structure, technology and emerging competitive models. This prevents digital transformation from being analyzed separately from the financial economics it is meant to improve. Across banking and capital markets, we examine where technology changes operating leverage or client behavior, where regulatory constraints shape strategic freedom and which businesses can create differentiated returns through cycles rather than only under favorable market conditions.
The data and estimates presented are indicative and intended for illustrative purposes. Actual outcomes may vary based on each company’s specific context, market conditions, operating model, implementation choices, and the quality and consistency of execution, including actions undertaken by the client.
Keypillars
Explore the key pillars that define this capability and shape how we create focused, measurable business impact.
Financial economics
Understands balance-sheet dynamics, capital, liquidity, funding, credit, and return structures across banking and market activities
Market infrastructure
Examines payments, trading, clearing, custody, lending, and capital-markets processes across interconnected financial institutions
Regulatory dynamics
Tracks prudential rules, monetary conditions, market structure, digital finance, and supervisory change affecting financial institutions
Can your institution remain competitive as capital, technology and regulation reshape financial markets?
Get in touch with our Banking and capital markets team to address the strategic, financial and operating challenges transforming the sector.
Get in touchStrategic Framework
Explore our Strategic Framework
Autonomous AI agents are changing how work is executed, enabling adaptive processes that respond intelligently to changing conditions instead of following predefined rules.
Discover our framework01. Map markets
Assess banking pools, capital flows, customer segments, products, channels, competitors, and market infrastructure
06. Monitor conditions
Track spreads, flows, asset quality, regulation, client demand, technology, and competitive movement
05. Set priorities
Define strategic choices across segments, products, capital, digital channels, operating model, and risk
02. Trace forces
Examine rates, liquidity, regulation, technology, credit cycles, capital markets, and changing client behavior
03. Assess position
Evaluate franchise strength, balance-sheet exposure, product economics, distribution, technology, and customer relationships
04. Stress scenarios
Test rate, credit, liquidity, regulatory, funding, market, and digital-disruption conditions
How we help
Support financial institutions as they rethink growth, operating leverage and portfolio choices under changing monetary, regulatory and technological conditions
We help banks and capital-markets businesses evaluate where attractive returns can be sustained, how customer and product portfolios should evolve and where technology can structurally alter cost or service models. Support can extend to growth strategy, operating-model transformation, AI-enabled workflows, capital and resource allocation, risk and resilience, market expansion, partnerships and business-model reinvention as institutions balance regulated stability with materially different digital economics.
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Banking strategy
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Retail banking transformation
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Corporate banking strategy
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Investment banking strategy
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Capital markets business strategy
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Deposit strategy
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Lending portfolio strategy
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Credit risk transformation
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Asset-liability management
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Bank capital optimization
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Banking pricing strategy
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Branch and channel strategy
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Digital banking transformation
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Payments strategy
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Financial crime transformation
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Bank operations productivity
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Markets technology modernization
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Banking AI adoption
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Regulatory capital scenario analysis
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Banking resilience strategy
Explore our FAQs
Find answers to the most common questions about this service, including key features, processes, and practical considerations. Explore our FAQs for additional insights and guidance.
Interest rates, regulation, digital competition, capital requirements and changing customer behavior continue to alter returns and business models.
Assess impacts on margins, deposits, credit quality, liquidity and customer behavior rather than focusing on net interest income alone.
AI can improve service, risk decisions, operations and productivity where data, controls and accountability are sufficiently robust.
Examine where new entrants change customer expectations, pricing or distribution economics rather than comparing product features alone.
Focus on liquidity, client exposure, market risk and operating resilience while distinguishing temporary dislocation from structural change.
Translate new requirements into impacts on capital, products, operations and strategic flexibility rather than treating regulation as compliance alone.
Funding economics, customer relationships, risk discipline, technology and operating efficiency increasingly determine durable performance.
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