Banking CEOs displayed measured optimism, anticipating business and earnings growth while recalibrating M&A toward strategic, value‑adding transactions. Meanwhile AI has moved from pilot to scale — becoming central to operating models, customer experience, fraud detection and cyber defense — with leaders increasingly confident in near‑term ROI. At the same time, CEOs recognized the imperative to build trust in AI, addressing ethical challenges, data readiness, and governance to ensure fair, transparent outcomes.
Banks prioritized reskilling and redeployment, rethinking roles and entry‑level skills to enable human–machine collaboration that boosts productivity without eroding the human touch. Sustainability and compliance are being embedded across risk, credit and finance functions — advancing energy efficiency, climate risk modeling, and more robust ESG reporting.
Explore the report to uncover deeper insights — how banking leaders are scaling AI responsibly, strengthening cyber resilience, reshaping talent, and fine‑tuning deal strategies to advance the banking sector.
KPMG 2025 Banking and Capital Markets CEO Outlook
Discover why banking CEOs are optimistic about growth and transformation, and how they’re leveraging AI, digitalization, and ESG strategies to build resilience and trust.
The 11th edition of the KPMG CEO Outlook, based on insights from 1,350 CEOs, offers a unique perspective on their mindset, strategies, and planning approaches. This report focuses exclusively on the 110 Banking and Capital Markets CEOs surveyed, representing commercial banking, capital markets and investment banking, retail banking, and organizations operating across multiple segments, including retail, commercial, and investment banking.
Key findings
- CEO confidence in company growth continues to rise, reaching 83% in 2025 (up from 78% in 2024).
- High M&A appetite remains strong, though slightly lower at 41% in 2025 compared to 48% in 2024.
- Cybersecurity is seen as the top factor influencing organizational growth, increasing to 86% in 2025 (from 81% in 2024).
Given high operational and regulatory costs, scale (in terms of assets and customer numbers) is critical for banks to be able to spread these costs effectively, driving M&A activity. Banks are looking for deals that will expand their distribution capabilities, differentiate their value propositions and help them gain access to new markets/regions.
Head of Global Banking and Capital Markets
KPMG International
Given high operational and regulatory costs, scale (in terms of assets and customer numbers) is critical for banks to be able to spread these costs effectively, driving M&A activity. Banks are looking for deals that will expand their distribution capabilities, differentiate their value propositions and help them gain access to new markets/regions.
Head of Global Banking and Capital Markets
KPMG International
Why download the report?
By downloading the 2025 Banking CEO Outlook report, you will:
- Discover why 83% of banking CEOs are confident in their company’s growth prospects, despite ongoing economic change.
- Learn how 65% of CEOs are making AI a top investment priority, with 69% expecting returns on AI within just 1–3 years.
- Find out why 86% of CEOs identify cyber risk as the top factor impacting organizational growth, and how banks are responding with advanced cyber resilience strategies.
- See how 83% of CEOs are prioritizing workforce reskilling to unlock AI’s potential, while 79% say AI is redefining entry-level skills in banking.
Explore the full report to gain a deeper understanding of the trends, perspectives, and emerging themes shaping the future of banking.
Pham Do Nhat Vinh
Partner
Head of Financial Services
KPMG in Vietnam
Tran Huu Tuan
Director
Financial Services
KPMG in Vietnam