KeyCorp (KEY): Business Model Canvas [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're digging into how KeyCorp, a major regional player, actually makes its money as of late 2025, and honestly, the picture is one of a bank aggressively balancing traditional lending with fee-based expansion. We see a firm with $185 billion in total assets leaning hard into its middle-market commercial strength, evidenced by KeyBanc Capital Markets fees hitting $184 million in Q3 2025, while simultaneously growing its non-interest income by 8% year-over-year. It's a hybrid play: offering community bank service alongside corporate bank capabilities, supported by strategic fintech partnerships and a solid 11.8% CET1 ratio, so you'll want to see exactly how these moving parts-from their $68 billion Assets Under Management to their targeted 10% banker growth-fit together in the full canvas below.

KeyCorp (KEY) - Canvas Business Model: Key Partnerships

You're mapping out KeyCorp's strategic alliances, and the numbers here show where capital and technology are flowing. The partnerships are designed to shore up capital, enhance digital capabilities, and manage risk across the franchise, which, as of September 30, 2024, held approximately $190 billion in assets and operated about 1,000 branches across 15 states.

Scotiabank

The strategic minority investment from The Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) was a major capital event. This deal completed in two tranches, with the second part closing following Federal Reserve approval in December 2024.

The total cash consideration for the stake was approximately US$2.8 billion.

This investment also granted Scotiabank the right to designate two individuals to KeyCorp's Board of Directors.

Fintechs like Qolo

KeyCorp, through KeyBank, is actively deepening its ties with select fintechs. For instance, Key is making a minority investment in Qolo, cementing a partnership critical to the development of the KeyVAM® (Key Virtual Account Management) offering.

This collaboration is focused on leveraging Qolo's technology for instant payments data access and money movement, pushing banking and payments innovation forward.

• KeyCorp is making a minority investment in Qolo.
• The partnership is critical for the success of KeyVAM®.
• Qolo provides best-in-class technology for payments infrastructure.

Technology Vendors

KeyCorp relies on established technology vendors to modernize core banking functions, especially in high-risk areas like compliance and loan processing.

For financial crime prevention, KeyBank increased its use of NICE Actimize's X-Sight AI Enterprise Platform in 2025, fully deploying fraud and anti-money laundering (AML) capabilities to enhance system reliability and adapt workflows quickly in response to evolving regulations.

In cloud-based lending, technology partners like nCino are key. While specific KeyCorp contract values aren't public, nCino announced platform enhancements at its nSight 2025 event aimed at intelligence-driven automation for banks.

• NICE Actimize: Deployed X-Sight AI Enterprise Platform for fraud and AML.
• nCino: Used for cloud-based loan origination and servicing automation.

Government Agencies

Key Government Finance serves as the channel for specialized financing partnerships with government entities. This segment supports public sector clients with tailored banking and capital solutions.

The framework for these partnerships involves adherence to specific federal and state procurement and financing standards.

KeyCorp (KEY) - Canvas Business Model: Key Activities

You're analyzing the core engine of KeyCorp's business model as of late 2025. The key activities are centered on high-value relationship banking, capital markets execution, and foundational deposit gathering, all increasingly supported by technology investments.

Commercial and middle-market lending and relationship management form a major pillar. The Commercial Bank showed strong loan growth compared to the prior year. Specifically, for the third quarter of 2025, average loan and lease balances for the Commercial Bank increased by $2.9 billion, which is a 4.3% increase compared to the third quarter of 2024. This growth was primarily fueled by commercial and industrial loans. Relationship households, a key metric for relationship management success, continued to grow at an annualized rate of 2%.

The core lending and deposit gathering activities can be summarized:

• Commercial loan growth was a focus, with average commercial loans increasing by $1.1 billion from the second quarter of 2025 to the third quarter of 2025.
• Consumer lending saw an intentional run-off of low-yielding loans, with average consumer loans declining by $2.4 billion year-over-year in Q3 2025.
• Client deposits showed positive momentum, growing 2% quarter-over-quarter.
• Total average deposits for the third quarter of 2025 were $150.4 billion.

Investment banking and debt placement via KeyBanc Capital Markets is a high-fee revenue driver. The activity level was exceptionally strong, with investment banking and debt placement fees recording the second best year-to-date performance in KeyCorp's history as of Q3 2025. In the third quarter of 2025 alone, KeyCorp raised $50,000,000,000 in capital on behalf of its clients. Looking at historical performance for context, KeyBanc Capital Markets raised $1.66 trillion in debt capital markets via 2,248 deals from 2021-24.

Here's a snapshot of KeyBanc Capital Markets' historical execution:

Managing a $68 billion record high in Assets Under Management (AUM) is a key wealth management activity. As of the third quarter of 2025, Assets Under Management reached a record $68 billion, marking an 11% increase year-over-year. This growth reflects successful client acquisition, as KeyCorp added approximately 50,000 households since launching a specific business initiative in 2023, contributing $3,000,000,000 to AUM during that period.

Core retail deposit gathering and consumer lending operations provide the stable funding base. KeyCorp's total assets stood at approximately $185 billion at June 30, 2025. The bank serves clients through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and 1,200 ATMs. The focus on deposit stability resulted in client deposits growing 2% quarter-over-quarter in Q3 2025.

Digital transformation and embedded banking platform development are critical operational investments. KeyCorp boosted its technology investment by nearly $100 million this year (2025), planning to spend $900 million on technology overall, which is a 10% increase from 2024. This investment supports a planned 10% increase in frontline producers, including investment bankers and middle-market relationship managers, throughout 2025. Furthermore, the bank has migrated half of its applications to the cloud as part of its core modernization efforts. The integration of digital banking solutions enhances transaction speed and account monitoring across consumer and commercial operations.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

KeyCorp (KEY) - Canvas Business Model: Key Resources

You're looking at the hard assets that back KeyCorp's entire operation as of late 2025. These aren't abstract concepts; they are the tangible and regulatory foundations supporting the business model.

The balance sheet shows total assets of approximately $185 billion as of June 30, 2025, with the most recent reported figure for Q3 2025 being $187.409 billion. KeyCorp maintains a strong regulatory footing, evidenced by its Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio hitting 11.8% at the end of the third quarter of 2025. Stability in funding comes from average deposits totaling $150.4 billion for Q3 2025, which is up from the prior quarter, showing client balances are growing.

KeyBanc Capital Markets, the corporate and investment banking arm, is a significant resource. It operates with over 800 professionals across its national platform. This platform has more than $50 billion of capital committed to clients. Furthermore, it supports this with an award-winning Equity Research team that provides coverage on over 600 publicly-traded companies.

The physical footprint remains a core asset for the Consumer Bank segment, providing local access across its established territory. Here are the details on that network:

• Operates across a 15-state footprint.
• Maintains a network of approximately 1,000 full-service branches.
• Offers access via over 40,000 KeyBank and Allpoint ATMs nationwide.

If onboarding new commercial clients takes longer than expected in those 15 states, the physical presence helps maintain relationship quality. Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

KeyCorp (KEY) - Canvas Business Model: Value Propositions

You're looking at how KeyCorp delivers value across its diverse client base, which is essentially a blend of local presence and sophisticated corporate reach. Honestly, the numbers show they are leaning into their specialized capabilities while maintaining a broad footprint.

Hybrid Model: Community Bank Service with Corporate Bank Capabilities

KeyCorp provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses across 15 states through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and 1,200 ATMs under the KeyBank name. This physical network supports the community bank aspect, while the overall entity, with assets of approximately $185 billion as of June 30, 2025, also delivers sophisticated corporate and investment banking products. The bank's operations are concentrated in its two largest markets: Ohio and New York.

Specialized Industry Expertise in Investment Banking Verticals

KeyCorp offers a broad set of scaled capabilities through its KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name, focusing on middle-market companies. This value proposition is backed by strong fee generation. Investment banking and debt placement fees were $661 million in the second quarter of 2025 Trailing Twelve Months (TTM). Furthermore, Investment Banking and Debt Placement (IBDP) fees were up 19% in 1H'25. In the third quarter of 2025, KeyCorp raised a robust $50 billion of capital on behalf of its clients.

Here's a look at the fee-based income contribution, showing the scale of the differentiated fee businesses as of Q2 2025 TTM:

Comprehensive Wealth Management for Mass Affluent and High-Net-Worth Clients

The Wealth Management segment is a key recurring source of fees and deposits for KeyCorp. Assets under Management (AUM) reached a record $68 billion as of the third quarter of 2025, marking an 11% increase year-over-year. The strategy targets underserved clients, with the Key Private Client group (targeting $250k-$2MM investable assets) enrolling over 45K clients and generating approximately $6 billion in investments & deposits since its inception in 2023. KeyCorp was targeting approximately 10% wealth manager headcount growth in 2025.

Digital-First Banking Solutions like Laurel Road for Doctors and Dentists

Laurel Road is explicitly recognized as one of KeyCorp's business segments as of the 2025 Resolution Plan. This specialized digital offering focuses on professionals like doctors and dentists, providing a modern banking experience. KeyCorp is actively investing in its frontline staff, including payments advisors, to support these sophisticated client needs.

Treasury and Cash Management Solutions for Commercial Clients (KeyVAM®)

Commercial Banking provides treasury management services to large corporations and middle-market companies. While the specific KeyVAM® financial metrics for 2025 aren't explicitly detailed, the segment's importance is evident in the commercial loan growth; average commercial loans increased by $1.1 billion in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the second quarter of 2025. Furthermore, KeyCorp's overall net margin was a healthy 17.5%.

The bank's capital strength supports these offerings, with the estimated Common Equity Tier 1 ratio standing at 11.8% at September 30, 2025. Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

KeyCorp (KEY) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Relationships

You're looking at how KeyCorp builds and maintains its connections with clients across its various segments as of late 2025. The bank is definitely doubling down on human capital to drive deeper engagement, so let's look at the numbers backing that up.

KeyCorp confirmed it remains on track to increase its front-line staff by approximately 10% in 2025. This group, which the bank defines as its relationship drivers, includes investment bankers, middle market relationship managers, payments advisors, and wealth managers. This hiring push is a direct action to deepen relationships across the franchise.

For middle-market and corporate clients, this investment in dedicated relationship managers is key. Relationship households and commercial clients both continued to grow at about 2% year-to-date as of the third quarter of 2025. The commercial bank team, which includes these relationship managers, is expected to reach around 170 to 180 people following the 10% expansion goal for the year. Furthermore, the bank's overall commercial banking platform generated $2 billion in revenue in 2024.

The high-touch, advisory services for Key Private Bank and Family Wealth clients are clearly a focus area, evidenced by external recognition. Key Private Bank was honored for the best 'Private Banking Client Service' at the 2025 Private Asset Management (PAM) Awards. This segment is managing significant assets; as of the third quarter of 2025, Assets Under Management (AUM) reached a record $68 billion. This wealth management business contributed 21% to the bank's adjusted total noninterest income for the trailing twelve months ending in 3Q25.

Here's a quick look at the scale of the wealth management client base and its contribution:

To support these relationship-focused bankers, KeyCorp accelerated investments in technology, boosting spending by nearly $100 million in 2025. This technology investment helps bankers be more impactful to clients and prospects, with the bank having migrated half of its applications to the cloud.

The strategic emphasis on deep, full-service relationships is central to KeyCorp's framework, particularly within investment banking. While the specific figure of 52% for relationship primacy in investment banking wasn't explicitly found, the bank noted that investment banking and debt placement fees recorded the second-best year-to-date performance in its history through the third quarter of 2025. The strategy explicitly focuses on 'Relationships and Primacy,' aiming for deep, full-service connections that create enduring value.

The bank continues to build out its client service capabilities through specific focus areas:

• Dedicated teams for middle market and corporate clients, including relationship managers.
• Proactive and personalized advice delivered by Key Private Bank advisors.
• Growing the Mass Affluent segment, which set a record for sales production in Q3 2025.
• Investment banking pipelines remaining at historically elevated levels.
• Raising a robust $50 billion of capital on behalf of clients during the third quarter of 2025.

Finance: draft the Q4 2025 client engagement KPI dashboard by end of next week.

KeyCorp (KEY) - Canvas Business Model: Channels

You're looking at how KeyCorp actually gets its products and services into the hands of its customers, which is a mix of old-school physical presence and modern digital pipes. It's not just one thing; it's a coordinated effort across different business lines.

Physical branch and ATM network in core regional markets.

KeyBank maintains a significant physical footprint, which is a key channel for its Consumer Banking segment. As of June 30, 2025, KeyCorp served clients through a network of approximately 1,000 full-service branches and approximately 1,200 ATMs across 15 states where it operates. For management purposes, this retail franchise is segmented into 25 markets within six internally-defined geographic regions. This physical presence supports deposit-taking, lending, and relationship management for individuals and small businesses.

KeyBank mobile and online banking platforms for all segments.

The digital channel is seeing major investment to support the shift in customer behavior. KeyCorp plans to spend $900 million on technology in 2025, which is a 10% increase from 2024, focusing on enhancing these platforms. The mobile app offers features like sign-on using facial recognition or fingerprint for quick access, and an Immediate Funds option for check deposits, though this service carries a 2% fee with a $2 minimum. Customer adoption of faster payments is evident, as KeyBank is on track to process over 4 million Real-Time Payments (RTP) transactions in 2025, up from 3.6 million in 2024.

KeyBanc Capital Markets' nationwide sales force for corporate clients.

For KeyBanc Capital Markets (KBCM), the channel is primarily a high-touch, nationwide sales force supported by deep industry expertise. This group delivers sophisticated corporate and investment banking products directly to corporate and institutional clients. The scale of their activity is substantial; KBCM raised more than $125 billion of capital for its clients over the last twelve months. To be more specific on recent activity, they raised $50 billion of capital on behalf of clients during the third quarter of 2025 alone. Their equity research team supports this sales effort by providing coverage on over 500 publicly traded companies.

Laurel Road digital lending platform for national niche markets.

Laurel Road, KeyBank's digital lending platform, targets national niche markets, particularly healthcare and business professionals, using a fully digital channel. This platform offers student loan refinancing, mortgages, and personal loans. For personal loans, the platform offers fixed rates from 8.99% to 23.25% APR. They cater to specialized needs; for instance, doctors and medical residents can access loans up to $80,000 with repayment terms up to seven years, which is more favorable than the standard maximum of $45,000. Furthermore, Laurel Road offers a High Yield Savings product currently earning 3.50% APY.

Commercial payments and embedded banking APIs for B2B partners.

The B2B channel is increasingly reliant on technology integration, moving beyond traditional relationship management. KeyCorp's commercial payments business is showing resilience, with management projecting adjusted fees to grow 5% or better in 2025. To support this, KeyBank is actively developing its API infrastructure. A critical upgrade to the API gateway platform required client migration activities to be completed by August 15, 2025. A new Commercial Accounts API is coming soon, designed to simplify account lookup and reporting, providing information on pending and posted transactions across Wire, ACH, and RTP payment types.

Here's a quick look at the scale of the physical and digital footprint:

The digital lending platform is also focused on specific professional segments, which is a clear channel segmentation strategy. You can see this in the specialized loan amounts offered to medical professionals.

• Laurel Road Personal Loan APR Range: 8.99% - 23.25%.
• Laurel Road High Yield Savings APY: 3.50%.
• Student Loan Refinance Fixed Rate Start: 4.99% (as of 1/9/2025).
• Commercial Payments Adjusted Fee Growth Expectation: 5% or better.

The API channel is clearly being pushed to B2B partners, with a hard deadline of August 15, 2025, for migrating to the new gateway platform. Finance needs to track the adoption rate of the new Commercial Accounts API as it rolls out.

KeyCorp (KEY) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Segments

You're looking at the specific groups KeyCorp targets with its services as of late 2025. This segmentation shows where the bank focuses its lending, advisory, and digital efforts across different wealth and business profiles.

Middle-market commercial clients (revenue between $10 million and $2 billion)

KeyCorp focuses on middle-market companies, positioning itself as large enough to offer full capabilities but manageable for the CFO. KeyBank serves approximately 4,600 middle-market clients across 27 markets, with those operations combined generating about $2 billion in revenue annually. A July 2025 sentiment report surveyed executives from businesses with annual revenues between $10 million and $1 billion.

Mass affluent and high-net-worth individuals (Key Private Client, $250k+ AUM)

The wealth management structure clearly delineates client tiers. Key Private Client specifically targets those with investable assets between $250k and $2MM. Key Private Bank, serving the higher end, reported $55 billion in Assets Under Management (AUM) and $60 billion in Assets Under Administration (AUA) as of December 31, 2024. Overall Assets Under Management for Key Wealth Management reached a record $68 billion in the third quarter of 2025.

Retail consumers in the 15-state branch footprint

The Consumer Bank serves individuals across KeyCorp's 15-state footprint. As of 3Q25, this segment includes approximately ~2MM+ Households. The bank operates approximately 1,000 branches and ~1,200 ATMs to support this base. Relationship households in the consumer segment continue to grow at an annualized rate of 2%.

Corporate and institutional clients utilizing investment banking services

This segment is a key driver of fee income. KeyCorp raised a robust $50 billion of capital on behalf of its clients during the third quarter of 2025. Trust and investment services fees contributed 12% to adjusted total noninterest income in 2Q25 TTM, while investment banking and debt placement fees contributed 27%.

Healthcare professionals targeted by the Laurel Road digital bank

Laurel Road is a national digital bank focused on healthcare professionals, including physicians, dentists, and nurses. Since its inception in 2013, Laurel Road has helped thousands of professionals consolidate and refinance more than $9 billion in federal and private school loans. The platform garnered more than 7,000 nurse sign-ups for its Loyalty Checking waitlist.

Here's a quick look at the scale across the primary segments as of the latest reporting periods:

The Consumer Bank segment's focus areas for relationship building include:

• Targeting existing Key households eligible for mass affluent offering (over 40%).
• Achieving relationship household growth at an annualized rate of 2%.
• Supporting approximately ~250k+ Business Clients within the Retail & Business Banking umbrella.
• Managing approximately $88 billion in Deposits for the Retail & Business Banking segment as of 3Q25.

For Laurel Road, the focus on healthcare professionals is evident in specific product uptake:

• Garnered over 7,000 nurse sign-ups for the Loyalty Checking waitlist.
• Refinanced $2.3 billion in student loans through Laurel Road in 2021 alone.

The bank is definitely using its niche digital play to capture high-earning, low-risk clientele without the cost of physical branch integration.

KeyCorp (KEY) - Canvas Business Model: Cost Structure

You're looking at the hard numbers driving KeyCorp's cost base as of late 2025. This is where the money goes to keep the lights on and fund future growth initiatives.

Technology Investment: KeyCorp has made a significant commitment to its digital future. The bank plans to spend $900 million on technology in 2025, which represents a 10% increase over the spend in 2024. This spend is a major component of the overall non-interest expense structure.

Personnel Costs and Staffing: Personnel expenses are a core cost driver. KeyCorp remains on target to increase its front line bankers-including investment bankers, middle market relationship managers, payments advisors, and wealth managers-by 10% in 2025. Looking at the most recent quarter, Q3 2025 saw personnel expense increase by $37 million compared to Q2 2025, driven by incentive compensation and these continued investments in people. Overall, noninterest expense rose 7% year-over-year in Q3 2025, with personnel costs being a primary factor in that increase.

Funding Costs: The cost of funding remains a critical variable cost. For the third quarter of 2025, the overall cost of deposits settled at 1.97%. This figure reflects a decline of 2 basis points from the prior quarter, showing effective management of deposit pricing even as average deposits grew to $150.4 billion in Q3 2025.

Non-Interest Expenses Overview: Non-interest expenses, which capture operating costs outside of interest paid on deposits, increased by 7% year-over-year in Q3 2025. This increase was partially offset by a decrease in non-personnel expenses, such as lower net occupancy and professional fees.

Here's a quick look at some key Q3 2025 expense and related credit cost metrics:

Credit Loss Provisioning: The cost set aside for potential loan defaults is a major non-operating expense line. As of September 30, 2025, KeyCorp's allowance for credit losses stood at $1.7 billion. For the third quarter of 2025 specifically, the provision for credit losses recorded was $107 million. This was accompanied by net loan charge-offs totaling $114 million, or 0.42% of average total loans for the quarter.

You should note the drivers behind these figures:

• Personnel Expense Drivers: Incentive compensation tied to noninterest income growth.
• Non-Personnel Expense Offsets: Lower net occupancy and professional fees.
• Credit Quality Movement: The Q3 2025 provision included a $7 million reserve release.
• Loan Portfolio Remix: Ongoing shift from low-yielding consumer loans to C&I loans.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

KeyCorp (KEY) - Canvas Business Model: Revenue Streams

You're looking at how KeyCorp actually brings in the money as of late 2025, which is really the core of their business model right now. For a bank this size, it boils down to two main buckets: what they earn on their assets (loans and securities) and the fees they charge for services.

The primary engine remains Net Interest Income (NII), which is the difference between what KeyCorp earns on its earning assets and what it pays out on deposits and borrowings. For the third quarter of 2025, taxable-equivalent NII hit $1.19 billion. That was a solid sequential lift, up 4% from the second quarter of 2025, which saw NII of about $1.15 billion. This improvement came from better balance sheet mix, lower deposit costs, and redeploying maturing investments into higher-yielding assets. Honestly, NII is still the foundation of their profitability.

The other major component is Non-interest income, often called fee income. This grew 8% year-over-year in Q3 2025, showing that their fee-based businesses are gaining traction faster than expenses. This growth is particularly important because it shows diversification away from pure interest rate dynamics. The Q3 2025 figure for total noninterest income was $702 million, excluding the impact of the prior year's securities sale loss.

Here's a breakdown of the key fee-based revenue drivers from Q3 2025:

• Investment banking and debt placement fees totaled $184 million for the quarter.
• Trust and investment services income was $150 million.
• Cards and payments income generated $86 million.
• Commercial mortgage servicing fees were $73 million.

The wealth management side is clearly performing well, with Assets Under Management (AUM) reaching a record $68 billion as of September 30, 2025, which is an 11% jump year-over-year. That growth in AUM directly feeds into the trust and investment services income.

KeyCorp is also seeing specific strength in its capital markets activities. You can see the dollar amounts and their recent performance trends here:

The commercial side is also contributing through specialized services. For instance, KeyCorp noted that Commercial mortgage servicing fees were $73 million in the quarter, holding near historic highs. Plus, they maintain active special servicing balances that were elevated at over $11 billion, up 48% compared to the prior year, which helps sustain those servicing fee levels, though they expect a slight decline in Q4 2025 for those specific fees.

Also, remember that KeyCorp raised a robust $50 billion of capital on behalf of its clients during the third quarter, though they only retained 15% on their own balance sheet, which is a key indicator of their fee-generating advisory activity.