--- title: "Banks will soon face the dark side of AI — Marsanne Studio AI watch" description: "AI promises banks substantial savings, but it could also let customers capture part of the gains through agents that compare offers." url: "https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch/banks-will-soon-face-the-dark-side-of-fffc2c/" lang: "en" --- [Marsanne Studio](https://marsanne.studio/en/) [← Back to home](https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch) [← The AI watch](https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch) Opinion · 2 October 2026 # Banks will soon face the dark side of AI Original title, in Spanish: “Los bancos se enfrentarán pronto al lado oscuro de la IA” **Publication** Cinco Días (Spain) **Author** [Neil Unmack](https://cincodias.elpais.com/autor/neil-unmack/) **Published on** 2 October 2026 · read in the page structured data ## Summary The Reuters Breakingviews column, published in Cinco Días, looks at how banks are adopting AI. Bank of America, Société Générale and Commerzbank are already putting figures on the gains: $800 million a year for BofA, €600 million in savings for Société Générale, and 500 million expected at Commerzbank from 2030. UBS estimates a gross cost reduction of 15 to 18% for Nordic banks, falling to 9% net after technology investment. However, the article warns that AI agents such as Meta's Muse or the British fintech Riff could allow customers to optimise their cash holdings, threatening banks' interest and fee margins, particularly in the United States and Europe. Summary based on the full text of the article. [Read the article on Cinco Días →](https://cincodias.elpais.com/opinion/2026-10-02/los-bancos-se-enfrentaran-pronto-al-lado-oscuro-de-la-ia.html) ## Figures cited - 800 USD million Bank of America's annual gains from generative AI Bank of America, annual > « El CEO de Bank of America, Brian Moynihan, ha presumido de unos 800 millones de dólares anuales entre recortes de costes y aumentos de ingresos gracias al uso de IA generativa, frente a un desembolso inicial único de solo 400 millones. » - 600 EUR million Savings identified by Société Générale through AI Société Générale > « Société Générale ha identificado recientemente hasta 600 millones de euros de ahorro gracias a la IA, casi un tercio de todos los recortes de costes previstos dentro de una nueva estrategia. » - 500 EUR million Annual benefits expected by Commerzbank from AI from 2030 Commerzbank, from 2030 > « Commerzbank ha dicho que espera unos beneficios anuales de 500 millones gracias a la IA a partir de 2030. » - 20 % Expected headcount reduction through AI within five years unnamed European bank, five-year horizon > « Un ejecutivo de un banco europeo, por ejemplo, dijo a Breaking­views que espera que la IA permita reducir la plantilla un 20% al cabo de cinco años. » - 18 % Estimated gross reduction in Nordic banks' spending through AI Nordic banks, UBS estimate > « Estimaron una reducción bruta del 15%-18% de los gastos actuales en efectivo. » Source: UBS - 0.1 % Average interest paid on current accounts in the United States FDIC-insured banks, United States > « Los bancos cubiertos por la Corporación Federal de Seguro de Depósitos de EE UU pagan de media un 0,1% por las cuentas corrientes y un 0,4% por las de ahorro, frente al entre 3% y 5% que ofrece toda una serie de empresas de tecnología financiera. » Source: Torsten Slok, économiste chez Apollo - 326,000 EUR million Net interest income of the 20 largest listed European banks in 2025 20 largest listed European banks, 2025 > « Los 20 mayores bancos cotizados con sede en la región —entre ellos HSBC, UBS e Intesa Sanpaolo— generaron unos 326.000 millones de euros de ingresos netos por intereses en 2025, en torno al 60% de sus ingresos totales. » - 80 % Potential fall in current account deposits in the United Kingdom with AI agents United Kingdom, scenario with AI savings-optimisation agents > « Su fundador, Oliver Butcher, calcula que el dinero depositado en cuentas corrientes británicas podría caer alrededor de un 80% en un escenario en el que agentes de IA optimizaran los ahorros de los clientes después de reservar lo suficiente para cubrir 40 días de gastos. » Source: Riff - — % Share of European banks' revenue coming from fees in the second quarter European banks, second quarter > « Estos ingresos por comisiones representaron casi un tercio de los ingresos operativos totales de los bancos europeos en el segundo trimestre, según la Autoridad Bancaria Europea. » Source: Autoridad Bancaria Europea ## Classification **Country** United States, United Kingdom **Company size** Large companies **Industries** Banking, insurance, asset management, finance departments **Companies** Bank of America (deploys AI), Apollo (cited), Société Générale (deploys AI), Morgan Stanley (cited), Wells Fargo (cited), Meta (supplier), Riff (supplier), Commerzbank (deploys AI), HSBC (cited), UBS (cited), Goldman Sachs (cited), Intesa Sanpaolo (cited), JP Morgan (cited) **Keywords** banks, generative artificial intelligence, ai agents, interest margins, cost reduction, bank deposits Entry written by Marsanne Studio from the cited article, with the help of an AI model (claude-sonnet-5). The rights to the article and its illustrations belong to Cinco Días and its author. Entry translated from French by Claude Sonnet 5.5.