Conclusion

The period of strong NII-driven profitability is normalizing, with banks increasingly relying more on diversified income sources - particularly fee-based activities - to sustain growth.

Cost discipline will remain a structural challenge, as wage inflation, regulatory requirements, and continued technology investments limit the scope for further efficiency gains without deeper operating model changes.

Technology is becoming a key differentiator, but execution remains uneven. While AI use cases are scaling in areas such as financial crime and customer servicing, differences in legacy infrastructure and governance maturity are creating a widening performance gap across institutions.

At the same time, workforce transformation is emerging as a binding constraint. Based on dedicated engagement with HR leadership across the sector, banks are still at an early stage of strategic workforce planning relative to the pace of technological change, creating risks around reskilling, role redesign, and long-term employability.

The risk environment is becoming more complex and cumulative. Geopolitical uncertainty, regulatory expansion and ESG-related transitions are increasingly shaping provisioning approaches, investment priorities, and resource allocation, with banks making different strategic trade-offs.

Looking ahead, competitive positioning will increasingly depend on the ability to translate strong current performance into structural adaptation, by aligning business model evolution, technology execution, risk management, and workforce transformation in a coherent way.

Koen De Loose
Partner, Head of Financial Services
KPMG Advisory

Benjamin Steyfkens
Director, Financial Risk Management
KPMG Advisory

Bernd Carette
Director, Strategic Workforce Planning
KPMG Advisory

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