In 2025, US commercial banks faced a complex and evolving risk landscape. The lingering effects of the 2023 regional banking crisis—amplified by recent revelations of fraudulent and non-performing loans—underscored how quickly risks can materialize and reinforced the urgency of forward-looking risk management.
Simultaneously, banks are challenged to address transformative issues such as artificial intelligence and escalating cyber threats, while maintaining vigilant oversight of fundamental risks including credit, liquidity, and operational stability.
This Insight, written by CRA’s Viktor Tsyrennikov, highlights five key risk areas that defined 2025 and are likely to persist in 2026:
- a shifting regulatory regime, economic and geopolitical uncertainty;
- cybersecurity threats;
- digital asset and stablecoin adoption;
- artificial intelligence; and
- core risks (credit, liquidity, interest rate risk and compliance risk).
The US banking sector remains fundamentally sound, but faces a convergence of regulatory, economic, technological, and operational pressures.
Read more about the key issues for the US banking sector here.
