Catherine Chedru-Refeuil

Key points

• Banks look to bolster AI expertise with external hires (40%) as upskilling proves challenging
• Only 29% of IT budgets are currently directed to transformative technologies
• Corporate Investment Banks executives bet on tokenized products (51%) to improve performance

Corporate and investment banks (CIBs) are facing intense competition from non‑bank financial institutions, as client expectations rise and technology initiatives fail to deliver the anticipated benefits, according to the Capgemini Research Institute’s inaugural World Corporate and Investment Banking Report 2026. The research shows that 85% of corporate clients plan to engage with a non-bank financial institution within the next 12 months, in search of faster, more transparent, and responsive services.

CIB clients say they expect real-time responsiveness (58%), personalised engagement (49%), and innovative solutions (40%) – but less than one-in-four (23%) find CIBs currently meet those needs. Instead, many flag that CIBs offer limited integration with ERP and treasury systems forcing manual workarounds (92%), display a lack of personalisation and flexibility (89%), and insufficient advanced analytics and forecasting capabilities (68%).

Adding to their challenges, CIB executives report that current innovation programs are not delivering the expected results. A vast majority (82%) say these efforts are not producing improved revenue via new products, while 51% of respondents say they did not deliver the expected cost savings.

As client expectations rise, banks are finding they have limited capabilities to respond. Executives say that only 29% of their IT budgets are currently directed to transformative technologies, while 43% goes towards running and maintaining legacy systems. In addition, 61% of CIB executives say they are constrained by high compliance costs.

The findings come as Capgemini analysis shows CIB revenue growth is decelerating, with a forecasted 5.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next five years – down from 6.5% between 2022 and 2024.

Despite structural headwinds, banks are continuing to broaden their product and service portfolios to remain competitive. CIB executives are prioritising real-time treasury capabilities for cross-border payment flows (77%) and next-generation AI market products for algorithmic trade execution, such as AI-driven hedging, and research insights (65%). More than half are exploring tokenised products (51%) to unlock new fee streams through digital custody, token issuance, and premium services.

“Non-banks are closing the competitive gap with established corporate and investment banks. Client demands have shifted dramatically, and while CIBs have invested heavily in AI, many are struggling to move beyond the pilot stage. A key reason is governance – only 26% of banks operate with centralised AI oversight, making teams hesitant to automate crucial business processes,” said Catherine Chedru-Refeuil, Global Head of Corporate and Investment Banking at Capgemini. “To succeed, CIBs must adopt a disciplined approach: creating enterprise-grade platforms and cultivating an ecosystem of trusted partners. Early adopters will see tangible benefits in the form of deeper client engagement, improved fee income, and materially lower costs.”

Fostering CIB innovation through technology and company culture

According to the report, CIBs will need to move on multiple fronts simultaneously to adapt to competitive pressures. Banks must take a critical look at their operating models to deliver a smoother client journey, rebuild their data and technology foundations to improve speed and embed AI governance into all major decisions. Equally important is client trust that CIBs have earned through decades of regulatory accountability – but remains a pressing challenge when it comes to AI-driven innovation. Many clients (89%) question the reliability of AI-generated outputs in banking services, underscoring why transparency is key to earning their confidence.

Implementing these changes will require more than technology. The report shows that cultural issues can be a meaningful obstacle to AI adoption – 39% of those surveyed said a conservative culture slows down experimentation with new technologies. In addition, banks are struggling to upskill their employee base – 40% of those surveyed said they were looking to hire external talent to boost their AI capabilities, while only 23% are investing in internal reskilling.

The World Corporate and Investment Banking Report 2026 draws on the perspectives of 750 senior executives across corporate and investment banks, large corporations and non-bank financial institutions with annual revenues of USD $1 billion or more.

Read the full report.

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Aiman Ezzat

The Capgemini Research Institute’s new report, “Navigating uncertainty with confidence – Investment priorities for 2025,” published yesterday, suggests that, in a context of ongoing uncertainty in the market environment, business leaders feel more positive about their organisation’s outlook. In spite of a cost containment imperative, this optimism is driving increased investment, notably in customer experience, supply chains, and sustainability, to enable more innovation, efficiency, competitiveness and resilience-building.

Increased optimism and planned investment focused on cost reduction

The report finds business leaders feeling more confident about the year ahead than they were 12 months ago – 62% are optimistic about their organization’s prospects for 2025, up 6 percentage points on the same time last year and 20 since 2023. However, executives have more confidence in their own organizations than the global market at large, with 37% optimistic about the prospects for the global operating environment in the next 12-18 months, only slightly up on last year.

In the current uncertain market environment, 56% expect to prioritise cost reduction over revenue growth for 2025. But executives realize that this change requires investment – half say that their organisation plans to increase overall investment in 2025, with just under a quarter anticipating lower levels of investment compared to 2024, and the rest expecting no change.

As we look to 2025, business leaders are navigating uncertainty with an attitude of confidence and resilience – two qualities that our research shows they are looking to instill in their organisations through technology investment,” said Aiman Ezzat, Chief Executive Officer at Capgemini. “Technology has a key role to play to improve competitiveness and productivity, while reducing costs and making all-important efficiency gains. With a focus on innovation, supply chains and sustainability – which is increasingly being harnessed for its value-driving potential – leaders will set themselves up to succeed in an uncertain environment and build resilient, adaptable organisations. Crucially, this will help shape a more innovative, sustainable and inclusive global economy.”

A focus on customer experience, innovation, and smarter supply chains

Much of business leaders’ confidence continues to focus on customer experience, followed by engineering, R&D, and innovation – with nearly 8 in 10 and nearly three quarters of executives now planning to increase investment in these areas, respectively. However, the sharpest acceleration in investment is focused on supply chain transformation, where 63% say they will increase their spend in 2025 – up from less than half in 2024 – and by 9.4% on average. New-generation supply chains will integrate AI and IoT to enhance efficiency, reduce waste, and support a business’s sustainability goals, as well as improve decision-making and reduce costs overall.

De-risking supply chains to address concerns over tariffs and trade disputes in 2025

Globally, 7 in 10 executives are concerned about the impact of rising tariffs and bilateral trade disputes on their organisation’s competitiveness. Almost two thirds are also concerned about the impact of a potential global trade war on their organisation’s operations and market access. On that front, executives in Japan and China are the most concerned about rising tariffs and bilateral trade disputes, and the least about a potential global trade war. To mitigate these risks and build resilience, most organisations globally are diversifying their sourcing and/or friendshoring. Almost 3 in 4 executives are already de-risking their supply chains by investing in other emerging countries to reduce reliance on China, up from less than half last year. In parallel, almost two thirds of them now confirm that friendshoring will represent a significant part their organisation’s sourcing and production strategies in 2025 (up from 45% last year).

Climate tech leads investment priorities in sustainability

In a context where sustainability investment is more and more seen as a business value driver as well as an asset for compliance and efficiency, and increasingly impacted by geopolitics^[1], 62% of executives (up 10 percentage points from 2024) are planning to increase their sustainability budgets, by 10.5% on average. The priority areas are climate tech (72% of executives planning to spend more), including hydrogen, renewables, batteries, nuclear, and carbon capture. Batteries are seen as the top climate tech investment in 2025, with over half of business leaders ranking them in their top three, in particular manufacturers and automotive companies – followed by solar energy. Besides climate tech, the other top areas of increased investment in sustainability are sustainable R&D and product development, biodiversity protection and restoration, and water conservation/management.

AI and generative AI drive the acceleration of tech investments – especially in the US

Globally, US organizations are expected to outpace their peers in terms of tech investments in 2025. Besides, US business leaders are also more likely to feel they should invest more to be competitive (84%) compared to their European counterparts (64%). In terms of technology investments, nearly 3 in 4 executives ranked AI/generative AI in their top three priority technologies in 2025 – and again, even more so in the US.

Methodology

The Capgemini Research Institute surveyed 2,500 business leaders from 2,500 organisations across 17 countries in North America, Europe. and Asia-Pacific and included nine industries and sectors: automotive; consumer products; banking and capital markets; insurance; retail; life sciences; telecoms, media and high-tech; manufacturing; and energy and utilities. The survey took place from October 23 to November 20, 2024 – half of the sample as collected prior to the US elections, and half was collected after. Across the total sample, 70% of respondents are from organisations with more than $1 billion in annual revenue and 30% are mid-sized organisations with $100 million to $1 billion in annual revenue.

Read the report.

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Notes:
[1] In our recent report A world in balance 2024 (Sept 2024), less than a quarter (23%) of executives surveyed said that the cost of sustainability investments outweigh the benefits, and over two thirds agree that anticipating or pre-empting stricter future regulations is a key driver of sustainability initiatives, up from 57% in 2023. In addition, 64% of executives surveyed (in June-July 2024) agreed that current geopolitics were an increasing consideration in sustainability investments

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Most banks and insurers adopt cloud solutions with the primary business objective to drive operational efficiency.

The Capgemini Research Institute’s World Cloud Report for Financial Services 2025, published yesterday, reveals a clear divide between how traditional and new-age financial institutions^[1] view their cloud technology investments. Most banks and insurers adopt cloud solutions with the primary business objective to drive operational efficiency (84%), while fintechs and insurtechs are pursuing cloud to accelerate sales (62%). The analysis further suggests only 12% of financial services organisations can be considered ‘cloud innovators’^[2].

Financial institutions are facing a challenging environment, ranging from data collection and management inefficiencies, cybersecurity gaps, regulatory complexities, to evolving customer expectations. According to the report banks and insurers are increasingly turning to cloud solutions to mitigate these risks. This is evident in a 26% increase in the mention of cloud-related terms in the annual reports of the top 40 tier-one banking and insurance firms globally between 2020 and 2023.

Roadblocks to realising value

However, firms face roadblocks in maximising cloud value as operational challenges continue to influence C-level decision-makers, slowing down the return on cloud transformation initiatives and investment. Fewer than 40% of executives say they are highly satisfied with their cloud solution’s outcomes broadly, including its ability to provide reduced operational costs (33%), enhanced scalability (27%), accelerated innovation (26%), advanced data and analytics (24%), and improved security and compliance (21%).

The report highlights that challenges arise due to financial institutions taking a lift-and-shift approach to cloud migration, rapid scaling that produces higher-than-anticipated costs, complicated pricing models, and inefficient governance and management practices.

“Cloud adoption should be viewed as the start of a transformative journey that fuels long-term business growth, rather than the end game or destination. What’s clear from our research is that while the technology is seen by financial institutions as a building block, some firms still consider cloud a cost-saving measure, whereas innovative disruptors leverage it to redefine their operations,” said Ravi Khokhar, Global Head of Cloud for Financial Services at Capgemini. “By taking a cloud native approach to foster a culture of innovation, banks and insurers will be better placed to deliver new products and services, enter new markets, and increase customer satisfaction. With generative AI now top of the boardroom agenda, a cloud-based technology foundation can also help the industry maximise investment in new technologies at scale.”

Financial institutions face a complex operational landscape

Banks and insurers hold a wealth of personal, financial, and transactional data about their customers. However, they face multiple challenges handling this data and keeping it secure. According to the report, three main concerns were highlighted by the majority of industry executives:

• Legacy systems impeding siloed data integration (71%)
• Protection of customer data and difficulty in maintaining privacy (70%)
• Lackluster data quality, including incorrect and missing information (69%)

With Europe’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) set to take effect in January 2025, and mounting regulatory pressures worldwide, financial institutions will soon face even more stringent compliance requirements, particularly over the increased use of technology platforms and third parties. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s recent ruling on open banking, known as Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act^[3], reinforces the importance of cloud-native solutions to provide the necessary scale, keep the cost of data exchange low for the industry, and remain compliant. Increased data, security, and regulatory constraints will mean organizations will have to work harder to derive meaningful insights and prioritise innovation.

The report further highlights that 81% of executives find the lack of appropriate technology impedes their business goals. Most respondents consider artificial intelligence (81%), predictive analytics (75%), and robotic process automation (65%), crucial for supporting a cloud ecosystem. However, traditional financial institutions currently fall short in the maturity and skills needed for these technologies: 15% display capability maturity in AI, 30% show capability maturity in predictive analytics, and 22% exhibit capability maturity in robotic process automation.

The industry must encourage an innovation-driven, cloud-native culture

Based on the research, 12% of banks and insurers can be classified as cloud innovators who leverage a well-defined cloud vision supported by scalable platforms and mature ecosystems to generate superior top-line results. This strategy is reaping significant rewards:

• 32% of innovators exceed upsell and cross-sell targets compared to 12% of their counterparts
• 32% exceed data monetization targets versus 10% of other banks and insurers
• 22% exceed innovative product development targets compared to 10% of financial institutions

To accelerate operational efficiency and innovation, the report suggests banks and insurers must apply a data-driven, cloud-focused approach. This requires an attention toward creating applications natively for the cloud, investing in cloud-skilled professionals, building a culture that encourages the sharing of ideas and best practices, and democratize access to technology for all teams.

Report Methodology

The World Cloud Report for Financial Services 2025 draws data from three primary sources, during June to August 2024: the 2024 Global Financial Services Executive Survey, the 2024 Global FinTech and InsurTech Survey, and the 2024 Global Executive Interviews. Primary Research covers insights from 13 markets: Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The executive survey polled 600 leaders of financial services firms (CxO, Head of Cloud, etc.) across Banking and Insurance, alongside 120 senior FinTech and InsurTech executives across 13 markets.

Read the report.

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Notes:
[1] New-age financial institutions refer to digital-native companies that leverage technology to revolutionise financial services, offering innovative and customer-centric solutions across banking, payments, and insurance.
[2] Cloud innovators are companies that have a well-defined cloud strategy supported by scalable platforms and mature ecosystem partnerships enabled by advanced technology capabilities. They are data-driven, cloud-focused, and customer-centric across the value chain to unlock new and innovative growth opportunities.
[3] Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

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Samantha Chow

The Capgemini Research Institute’s World Life Insurance Report 2025, published yesterday, reveals that the life insurance industry is struggling to meet today’s customer experience expectations, with legacy technology being a major barrier to driving meaningful change.

However, the report identifies a small group of life insurers globally delivering quantifiably outstanding customer experience to achieve ‘best-in-class’ status. In comparison to mainstream insurers, these innovative companies have been rewarded with a 38% higher Net Promoter Score (NPS^®), an 11% lower expense ratio, and a 6% higher revenue growth than the rest of the industry in the last three years.

Faced with high inflation, economic uncertainty, and waning interest, life insurers are at a critical juncture as the industry confronts a 33% fall in penetration in mature markets^[1] between 2007 and 2023^[2], with one-in-two policyholders saying their experience is underwhelming. Much of this dissatisfaction permeates through the entire customer journey, particularly across product offerings, onboarding, servicing and claims/surrenders.

Insurers face challenges at every stage of the customer journey

At the onboarding stage, one-in-three (35%) retail policyholders struggle with complex terms and 27% don’t like the lengthy application process. After purchasing a policy, one-in-four (25%) retail and group customers express frustration due to long wait times, while 23% are frustrated by the inability to access self-service options for policy changes. The claims process also poses challenges, primarily due to a lack of digitization: one-third (35%) of retail policyholders say they face a complicated claim application process, with 27% noting a lack of empathy during the claims experience.

The research shows that younger policyholders (between 18-40 years) are more frustrated by a challenging experience than older customers (between 41-60 years) throughout their insurance journey. This includes slow and complex onboarding processes, lack of dedicated communication channels, and an inability to self-service policies. They also demand greater claims flexibility, with 42% citing inflexible payouts as a critical concern, versus only 26% of older customers.

Despite a desire to redesign the onboarding, service and claims experience, only 9% of carriers have established ecosystem-wide processes that capture data from multiple sources to create a unique view of customers, and in turn, deliver personalised experiences through policyholders’ preferred channels.

“Life insurance is shifting from a must-have to a maybe proposition. Carriers must shake off the perception that life insurance is just ‘death insurance’. They can achieve this by focusing on engaging the next generation of policyholders, moving beyond a product-driven approach to put the customer at the centre of their strategies,” said Samantha Chow, Global Leader for Life Insurance, Annuities and Benefits Sector at Capgemini. “Many insurers are struggling with legacy technology or investments that have failed to deliver the target returns. The path forward is a customer-centric transformation that draws inspiration from the best-in-class by embedding AI-augmented, human-touch service into core processes.”

Efforts to improve customer experience have stalled for most carriers

Insurers recognize an urgent need to modernize their operations, however, only 41% met or exceeded their latest transformation goals. Past transformation initiatives fell short of delivering the intended results as insurers prioritized multiple goals which hindered their efforts. The challenges were further complicated by unexpected integration complexities (50%), lack of alignment with business objectives (42%) and insufficient skilled resources (42%).

Despite these headwinds, the report finds an elite group of 5% of best-in-class insurers who are delivering a superior customer experience. These best-in-class carriers lean into the latest technologies, like generative AI, to offer exceptional onboarding, self-service, and claims capabilities.

The best-in-class stand out against their counterparts:

• 78% of best-in-class insurers have automated underwriting compared to 15% of mainstream insurers to optimise onboarding efforts.
• 78% offer policyholders self-service portals compared to only 13% of mainstream carriers.
• 56% provide a seamless and intelligent claims experience through AI assistance for voice and sentiment analysis versus only 3% of mainstream insurers.

Generative AI can be a catalyst, although talent gaps remain a hurdle

While the transformative potential of generative AI is undeniable for the life insurance industry, it brings to light a pressing talent challenge. Today, 67% of best-in-class insurers are technically ready to leverage and maximise generative AI’s capabilities across their operations, with readiness levels dropping to 25% for mainstream insurers. Generative AI, when augmented with human intelligence, can revolutionize the consumer experience, while simultaneously driving operational efficiencies. However, one-in-three executives (34%) highlight identifying talent as a significant obstacle hindering their ability, with critical gaps in roles such as behavioral scientists, experience designers, and AI prompt engineers.

According to the report, success will hinge not only on the implementation of the technology, but also on insurers’ ability to attract, develop, and retain the right talent. Carriers who can effectively blend cutting-edge technology with skilled professionals will be well-positioned to lead the industry into a new era of innovation and customer-centricity.

Report Methodology

The World Life Insurance Report 2025 draws data from two primary sources: the Global Voice of the Customer Survey, administered during May and June 2024, and the Global Insurance Executive Survey, conducted during May and June 2024. This primary research covers insights from 20 markets: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. First, our comprehensive Voice of the Customer Survey, administered in collaboration with Phronesis Partners, polled 6,186 life insurance customers in 18 countries. These markets represent all three regions of the globe – the Americas (The United States, Mexico, Canada, and Brazil), Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom), and Asia-Pacific (Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, and Singapore). Second, the report also includes insights from interviews with 213 leading life insurance company executives across 16 markets. These markets together represent all three regions of the globe – the Americas (The United States, Canada, and Brazil), Europe (Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and Asia-Pacific (Australia, Hong Kong, India, and Singapore).

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Notes:
[1] Mature markets: North America includes Canada and the United States. Western Europe includes Portugal, Luxembourg, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Austria, France, Greece, Malta, Finland, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Cyprus. APAC includes Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan.
[2] Swiss Re – sigma explorer

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Capgemini Research Institute release 2024’s report tracking advancements in organisations’ environmental and social sustainability over the last three years.

Organisations continue to make progress in their sustainability initiatives, despite facing geopolitical challenges. Regulation and technology are proving to be a vital part of this progress, with two thirds of executives agreeing that their organisation will never be able to achieve its sustainability goals without climate tech.

This is according to the Capgemini Research Institute’s latest report, ‘A world in balance 2024: Accelerating sustainability amidst geopolitical challenges’, which tracks advancements in organisations’ environmental and social sustainability over the last three years.

The third edition of the report highlights marked improvements in circularity, sustainable design, measurement, water stewardship, biodiversity, and sustainability skilling, despite shortfalls in tackling Scope 3 emissions and consumer skepticism. Collectively, organisations are ramping up their efforts to meet their sustainability targets, and their maturity in adopting sustainable practices has increased steadily since 2022.

84% of executives this year say their organisation is on target to meet its carbon emissions goals; less than a tenth say they are behind. As organisations look to minimise their impact on the environment, progress is particularly visible in terms of circularity, sustainable product design, measurement, and water management.

For instance, nearly three quarters of executives say that recycling products is a core aspect of their manufacturing strategy, up from 53% in 2022, while over two thirds said they were redesigning products to remove fossil fuel feedstock sources, up from less than half in 2022. In addition, three-quarters of executives have implemented a water-stewardship program, up from 55% in 2022.

Read the report. 

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