The data: Consumers who use AI for banking are using third-party AI tools for financial guidance about twice as often as they use their banks' chatbots, per McKinsey's “Global Banking Annual Review 2026.”

But that’s not necessarily what they want to do.

• 62% of AI users would prefer getting AI services and advice from their primary bank.
• Roughly half of AI users say they may turn to third-party financial apps if their banks don't offer the type of functionality they want.

Why it matters: Consumers can now use LLMs to get financial advice, compare rates, evaluate financial products, and explore alternatives across multiple providers. Chatbots are influencing the next products customers choose, competing with personalized marketing and offers from banks. 

Nearly a quarter of consumers globally already use generative AI for banking tasks, while more than half of consumers with at least $100,000 in wealth use LLMs for financial questions, per McKinsey data.

Recommendations for banks: Banks should move beyond chatbots narrowly designed for customer service toward AI assistants that offer personalized insights and help customers make financial decisions.

Their access to customers' financial information and established trust give them an advantage in delivering personalized recommendations. But that advantage won't matter if customers find third-party AI tools more useful.

That data advantage has a ceiling, too. Many consumers have accounts and credit cards with multiple financial institutions. That leaves each bank’s AI assistant with only a slice of their finances. The tools third-party chatbots like Claude use APIs to pull in accounts across institutions so they can offer more comprehensive advice—like whether to pay down a card or move cash into a higher-yield account elsewhere. 

Banks that want their assistants to be the default need to tackle major blind spots in their customers’ finances. One way to do this quickly is by starting with the clues already in their own data—like payments to outside credit cards, loans, and brokerages. The next step is letting customers link data from those accounts directly. U.S. Bank, for example, lets customers link outside accounts in its app and uses that data to track spending, flag bills, and offer personalized guidance across all their finances.

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