By Melissa Cantor, Editor at LinkedIn News — North American banks appear eager to develop and deploy artificial intelligence in pursuit of a competitive edge. In 2022, U.S. and Canadian banks published 80% of the research and funded 60% of investments into AI applications for the financial services sector, Axios reports. The payoff could be big: A 2020 report by McKinsey estimated that AI technologies could hold up to $1 trillion in value for the global banking sector — for example, by automating or improving areas such as high-frequency trades, fraud detection and marketing.

Smaller lenders will likely struggle to keep up as banking becomes an “AI-first” industry, possibly exacerbating the consolidation that many experts already expect to see in coming years. A new report from banking data provider Evident found that Capital One leads the industry on AI patents, Wells Fargo on investments and J.P. Morgan Chase on research. Insider reported earlier this year that banks are having a tough time retaining their AI researchers.