The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated a shift toward digital services in banking, a trend that may sound the death knell for in-branch activity in the next five years.

Nearly two-thirds of the 305 banking executives worldwide surveyed between February and March by the Economist Intelligence Unit said branches could disappear altogether in the next five years, according to a report released Tuesday that was sponsored by banking core technology provider Temenos. The Economic Intelligence Unit is the research and analysis division of the London-based Economist Group.

The survey included respondents from retail, corporate and private banks in Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East, and Latin America. The report found that 81% of the executives feel that unlocking value from artificial intelligence (AI) will be the key differentiator between winning and losing banks. “Overall, a third of respondents are focusing technology investments on AI platforms, particularly to support better customer experience and product personalization,” the report noted.

Moreover, 65% of the survey respondents said that emerging technologies, like cloud computing, APIs, AI and blockchains, will have the greatest impact on their business models in the coming years. While many banks have moved quickly to integrate some of these through in-house development, 25% said they are looking to innovate by investing in fintech startups, and 13% said they’d do so by partnering with them.

“We are experimenting with multiple business models, because, frankly speaking, we don’t know what the future business models will be,” Aalishaan Zaidi, global head of digital banking at Standard Chartered, said in the report. The $720 billion bank has expanded its business lines by creating a multi-country, digital bank in Africa that offers instant onboarding for unbanked and underbanked customers, as well as by opening the digital bank Mox in Hong Kong, and offering banking-as-a-service solutions in Indonesia.

“Many [banks] now aspire to develop digital ecosystems that bring more human, differentiated experiences to their customers using the power of cloud, SaaS and AI,” Kanika Hope, chief strategy officer at Temenos, said in a statement. “This report shows that bankers now understand that technology will be an enabler for these new business models and is critical to their competitive differentiation.,”

Temenos recently rolled out its cloud banking platform and has announced a partnership with tech-giant Huawei, eyeing an expansion into the China and Asia-Pacific market.