“I bank with Chase. I want to open a high-yield savings account. What do you recommend?”
We asked questions like this about 24 banks. Two in three answers name another provider. Three in ten put another provider first, ahead of the customer’s own bank.
- of answers name another provider
- 68%
- of answers name another provider
- put another provider first
- 29%
- put another provider first
Digital banks lose the first recommendation most. Credit unions least.
How often the answer puts another provider first, by the kind of bank the customer named.
Ask about a car loan and AI shops around. Ask about a credit card and it rarely does.
How often the answer names at least one provider other than the customer's bank, by what they asked for.
Every bank we named, by how often its own customers were sent elsewhere first
Each bank was named in the same questions, in the same three wordings.
| Bank the customer named | Another provider first | Names another provider | Own bank offered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01Varo Bank | 74% | 84% | 32% |
| 02Chime | 70% | 81% | 34% |
| 03Discover | 53% | 77% | 52% |
| 04Ally Bank | 48% | 76% | 57% |
| 05American Express | 43% | 75% | 63% |
| 06Capital One | 40% | 70% | 68% |
| 07Bank of America | 31% | 71% | 79% |
| 08SoFi | 30% | 72% | 68% |
| 09Wells Fargo | 27% | 70% | 93% |
| 10Chase | 27% | 68% | 87% |
| 11Fifth Third Bank | 25% | 70% | 93% |
| 12Citi | 24% | 65% | 85% |
| 13Truist | 23% | 62% | 93% |
| 14Citizens Bank | 22% | 59% | 87% |
| 15PenFed Credit Union | 21% | 67% | 82% |
| 16Alliant Credit Union | 21% | 66% | 80% |
| 17KeyBank | 21% | 64% | 93% |
| 18M&T Bank | 19% | 63% | 88% |
| 19Regions Bank | 18% | 67% | 89% |
| 20PNC | 18% | 62% | 91% |
| 21Huntington Bank | 17% | 63% | 91% |
| 22U.S. Bank | 17% | 62% | 89% |
| 23Navy Federal Credit Union | 9% | 72% | 100% |
| 24State Employees' Credit Union | 9% | 62% | 90% |
The providers AI suggests instead
Share of all answers that name each one.
Gemini names another provider most often
Share of each assistant's answers that name a provider other than the customer's bank.
We wrote 8 product questions, each in 3 wordings. We asked them about 24 banks, on October 9, 2026. Each question opened with the customer’s bank, as in “I bank with Chase.”
We read 2,304 answers from the four assistants. These questions are separate from the study and count towards no score.
A second AI model read a sample of 150 answers again. It agreed on whether an answer names another provider in 91% of them.
- CheckoutHow should I pay for this?78%of answers pick a credit cardRead the chapter
- WealthSay you have $10 million.60%of answers then name a private bankRead the chapter
- MortgagesWhat mortgage rate should I expect?33%of mortgage answers cite bankrate.comRead the chapter
- SourcesWho does AI trust with money questions?19%of finance answers draw on comparison sitesRead the chapter
- Money20/20At Money20/20? Find your company.50%of attendees are never namedRead the chapter
