Key Highlights and Preview
The 2025 survey revealed distinct challenges and opportunities that face community bankers. Noteworthy highlights of the following pages include:
Cybersecurity and Data Privacy
Looking into 2025, community financial professionals believe cybersecurity/data privacy will affect the industry most.
- 28% listed cybersecurity/data privacy as the issue most likely to affect the industry in 2025.
- To combat these increasing threats, banks are deploying various approaches like risk assessments and other cybersecurity tools.
$6.08M
The average cost of a data breach in the financial industry rose from $5.9 million in 2023 to $6.08 million in 2024.
Source: Cost of a Data Breach Report 20241
Banks Embrace Core Modernization
Almost all bankers surveyed identified planned strategies to modernize their core banking system, moving away from outdated legacy applications.
- 62% of banks plan to invest in core or ancillary products that support ongoing innovation in 2025.
- Moreover, 57% of bankers are using or planning to expand use of integrated solutions supported by open APIs while 53% plan to evaluate technology in terms of its ability to support open banking.
$330B
It’s estimated that total open banking transactions will reach $330 billion in 2027, having reached $57 billion in 2023.
Source: Juniper2
Efficiency Tops List of Strategic Priorities
Increasing operational efficiencies emerged as a leading area of focus for bankers, with 44% selecting this as a top strategic priority.
- 40% of bankers selected deposit growth as one of their top three priorities, signaling banks’ focus on capturing new accounts.
- However, only 22% of community banks plan to focus on loan growth as a strategic priority.
$100K in Savings
A recent survey revealed 52% of banking executives reported saving at least $100,000 annually because of automation, and respondents cited increased efficiencies among top goals.
Source: The Financial Brand3
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Remains Major Tech Trend
For the second year in a row, bankers chose AI as the top technology trend most likely to affect the financial industry in 2025.
- 33% chose AI as the top trend to watch for 2025, suggesting banks are evaluating its benefits and beneficial use cases.
- Most are interested in using AI for fraud and AML detection and prevention (91%) or customer service (90%), and eight in 10 bankers expressed concern about the technology.