Banks often say AI saves money. It can read loan files, spot strange payments, and answer customers faster. That part is true. AI can also bring banks new problems.
1. Customer money can leave
Banks earn money when customers keep cash in low-interest accounts. The bank then lends that money at a higher rate.
Reuters reported that Europe’s 20 biggest listed banks earned about €326 billion from interest in 2025. That was about 60% of all their revenue.
AI can now compare rates every day. If another place pays more, it can move the spare money there. In the UK, the founder of Riff estimates that, in a strong case, money in ordinary accounts could fall by about 80%. That is only a guess. But if customers stop leaving extra cash at the bank, bank profit gets thinner.
2. A face and a voice can be faked
Thieves now use AI to copy a real person’s voice and face. The Banker reported that thieves posing as bank bosses stole about €120 million from three Italian banks.
- Fideuram lost about €95 million
- Banca Ifis lost about €24 million
They did not break the computer system. They talked staff into sending the money.
In Australia, big banks flagged about 32,000 cases of dangerous online content, including fake investment videos. The Thomson Reuters Institute said that in 2025 AI-related complaints were only 2.2% of cases, but 4.3% of losses. The average loss was about $39,935, versus $24,100 for a normal case.
3. Banks can lose on their own loans
American Banker reported that, among 230 US bankers, 72% said their bank was weak at switching AI off when it goes wrong, or at reporting a failure. Loan approval and debt collection are the easy places to slip if no person checks the result.
There is another risk. A Columbia professor estimates that banks have about $800 billion in loans tied to AI data centers. If AI companies miss their revenue targets, that debt can come back to the banks.
AI will not shut the banks this year. But a bank that uses it only to cut staff, without stronger payment checks and a clear count of data-center loans, will hit the problem first.