UBS has recruited artificial intelligence (AI) leadership from US banking giant JPMorgan, as the war on AI talent heats up in the finance sector.

The Swiss bank has named Daniele Magazzeni as its chief AI officer as the technology becomes a “top priority” for the organisation.

Magazzeni joined from JPMorgan, where he has spent almost six years, working in AI research and its AI centre of excellence, culminating in the role of chief analytics officer in its commercial and investment bank.

Research recently revealed that US banks dominate the top 10 group of AI leaders in the banking sector. JPMorgan was ranked number one in Evident’s Banking AI adoption index, while UBS ranked 7^th.

UBS said Magazzeni “will lead the firm’s AI strategy with a focus on reshaping business capabilities to improve the client experience and enhance employee productivity”.

Mike Dargan, UBS’s group chief operations and technology officer, said: “AI is a top priority for UBS. As chief AI officer, he [Magazzeni] will further optimise our use of traditional, generative and agentic AI capabilities to transform our end-to-end operations and deliver cutting-edge solutions to our clients.”

Evident’s CEO, Alexandra Mousavizadeh, recently told Computer Weekly that the war on AI talent is on in the banking sector, as firms attempt to take their AI investments to the next level. She said recruiting AI experts that can lead the way is expensive, but essential if banks don’t want to be left behind and unable to make up ground. “We’re at a point in time now where there will be a moment when, as a lagging bank, you can’t catch up,” said Mousavizadeh. “Your talent is your destiny.”

Mousavizadeh said banks need skills like those at Big Tech firms to take AI investments forward, and that they will be increasingly recruiting staff from each other.

Evident found that leading banks for AI maturity have pulled away from their peers in 2025, consolidating earlier gains and increasingly realising a return on investment for their spending on the technology.

It found that the top banks, including UBS and JPMorgan, are accelerating on AI adoption more than twice as fast as the rest of the field, as early AI investments translate into business value.

According to Lloyds Banking Group’s Financial institutions sentiment survey, 59% of surveyed firms reported AI-driven productivity gains in the past 12 months, compared with 32% in the 2024 survey.

Banks also reported rising returns from AI in other areas. The survey found that 21% of respondents believe AI is directly driving business growth, compared with 8% in the survey a year ago.

Meanwhile, a third (33%) of respondents said AI is enhancing customer experiences, up from 14%. The same number said they have deeper customer insights through AI, compared with 18% last year.

As a result of the improvements, half of the finance companies surveyed said they planned to increase spending on AI over the next 12 months.

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