AI – The new market maker

By Viktoria Danzer, Marcus Hartmann and Simon Kuhn

Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as the most significant technological shift since the Internet. Advances in cognitive AI, generative models, autonomous agents and robotics are reinforcing one another, turning AI from a tool for automating individual tasks into a broad capability layer across digital and physical environments. AI is reshaping existing industries, including financial services, while giving rise to new markets and business models. In doing so, it is becoming a new market maker – changing where value is created and who captures it.

The rapid advancement of AI will fundamentally reshape how financial services are consumed and delivered from 2030 onward. For banks, this is not only about applying AI within the existing business model to improve efficiency; it is about preparing for a market in which AI is part of everyday financial life. As AI systems and digital agents become embedded across digital ecosystems, customer expectations toward banking are being reset. Banking is expected to become more integrated and AI-orchestrated, operating within digital platforms and enterprise workflows rather than through standalone banking channels. This shift marks a structural disruption of the traditional banking model.

For retail and corporate customers, the core functions of banking remain essential: access to liquidity, reliable transaction infrastructure and credit provision. However, the way these services are accessed is changing rapidly. Customers are becoming less willing to navigate branch-based processes or product-led advisory – putting referral-based commission income under pressure. They now expect financial services to be secure and highly personalized, while being seamlessly integrated into the digital environments in which they operate. AI-driven assistants will increasingly support financial decisions and manage routine transactions across multiple providers.

A new basis for competition

This creates significant disruption for banks. Traditional sources of differentiation, such as proprietary products or distribution channels, are becoming less decisive as financial services move into external ecosystems. At the same time, new competition is emerging from technology companies and AI-native entrants that integrate financial services directly into their digital environments.

To stay relevant to clients and continue creating value, banks must redefine how they create and deliver value. By 2030, successful financial institutions will increasingly differentiate through four core capabilities: trust, seamless execution, intelligent guidance and capital allocation.

Together, these developments illustrate that banking is entering a period of structural disruption driven by AI-enabled ecosystems and changing customer expectations. The challenge is no longer only to use AI for efficiency gains within the existing business model, but to define the strategic role banks will play as AI becomes part of everyday financial life. Banks must therefore decide how they position themselves within the emerging market structure. Against this backdrop, we outline here four strategic options for banks in the AI-driven market of 2030 and beyond.

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