Customers Bancorp CEO Says AI Gains Already Top Spending, Wants An 'AI Native Regional Bank'
Sam Sidhu says revenue per employee is up 13% and pre-tax profit per employee up 34%, and rejects talk of replacing the core system.
Customers Bancorp CEO Sam Sidhu told analysts on the bank's third-quarter earnings call that productivity gains from AI are "already above our investments today," and that revenue per employee is up 13% from a year ago. Pressed on whether Palantir could one day replace the bank's core system, he said the goal is automated workflows, not a software rebuild.
Productivity numbers behind the claim
Customers Bancorp is a bank holding company whose subsidiary, Customers Bank, lends to businesses, corporate clients, nonprofits and consumers and provides payments and treasury services. Sidhu said pre-tax profit per employee rose 34% on an annualized basis this quarter versus a year earlier. He said those two measures rank the bank number one and number four among banks with $10 billion to $100 billion in assets.
Management said more than 60 people now work on AI transformation, alongside a dozen and growing forward-deployed engineers from partners. Cumulative estimated hours saved have reached 76,000, and the bank has unlocked an estimated $15 million-plus of annualized capacity. Sidhu said revenue producers grew 6% over six months while total headcount drifted lower.
He tied the work to a target of a low-40s efficiency ratio by the end of 2027.
Palantir questions, and where OpenAI fits
A JPMorgan analyst asked whether the Palantir partnership was limited to account onboarding or could end with Palantir replacing the core. Sidhu described Palantir as working side by side with bank engineers on complex commercial deposit onboarding and said "we're not looking to reinvent the world here."
A Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst asked whether AI could replace the core. Sidhu said the aim is end-to-end automated workflows, which an AI native regional bank requires. "Our focus is on the workflows," he said, adding the bank is not trying to "reinvent the software wheel."
He said OpenAI is the heavy partner on loans, while deposits and payments are the other two domains. A larger transformation project begins in the fourth quarter.
Quarter and guidance
Deposits grew to a record $22.6 billion and loans to a record $18.5 billion, and EPS was $2.25, up 10% from the second quarter, Sidhu said. CFO Mark McCollum raised loan growth guidance to 12% or higher for 2026 and tightened net interest income guidance to $805 million to $810 million.
McCollum said the bank will give 2027 guidance, including expenses, on its fourth-quarter call in January.
McCollum said the bank's full 2027 outlook arrives on the January call.
Sources
- Document — sec.gov
- Customers Bancorp: Q3 Earnings Snapshot — Associated Press
- Customers Bancorp (CUBI) Tops Q3 Earnings and Revenue Estimates — Yahoo Finance
- Gear Up for Customers Bancorp (CUBI) Q3 Earnings: Wall Street Estimates for Key Metrics — Yahoo Finance
- Here's What Key Metrics Tell Us About Customers Bancorp (CUBI) Q3 Earnings — Yahoo Finance
