The news: Digital-first consumers now expect fast, zero-click access to information—meaning they often get answers from search engines or social platforms without clicking through, per CUInsight. To stay visible, FIs should optimize content for featured snippets, enhance their Google Business Profiles, and use tools like calculators that embed in search results. Our take: Zero-click marketing deserves its own strategy alongside SEO and generative optimization. Financial brands that adapt their content to meet users where they are—within snippets, tools, or knowledge panels—can build more visibility and trust than competitors who rely on traditional site traffic alone.
The news: CI&T and Project Nemo have developed a prototype app called Nemo, Art of the Possible, designed to help adults with learning disabilities manage money independently and securely, per Stock Titan. The app includes calm mode, adaptive onboarding, emergency savings, and user-controlled support to promote financial inclusion. Our take: With one in five US adults experiencing learning or attention challenges, banks have a major opportunity to broaden access. By partnering with fintechs to deliver inclusive tech like Nemo, financial institutions can better serve underrepresented users and improve financial health, experience, and loyalty across their customer base.
The news: Financial institutions (FIs) must prioritize generative engine optimization (GEO)—the evolution of SEO—or risk disappearing from AI-powered customer journeys, according to The Financial Brand. As tools like ChatGPT increasingly guide users in choosing financial products, FIs must ensure their content is optimized for visibility and relevance within these AI environments. Our take: Nearly 80 million Americans are already using generative AI search engines, and that number is growing. FIs that move early to optimize their content will increase visibility and credibility with AI-driven consumers, while those who delay risk losing brand presence altogether.
The findings: A new study reveals that subtle changes in older adults' everyday financial behavior, detectable in banking data, can signal cognitive decline and financial vulnerability up to a decade before formal intervention. These changes include reduced spending on hobbies and travel, fewer online logins, and increased fraud reports or PIN reset requests, indicating a rise in financial errors and susceptibility to fraud due to early-stage dementia. Next steps: By identifying these risk factors, banks have an opportunity to not only prevent fraud but also solidify their role as trusted financial partners throughout customers' entire journeys. This also creates pathways to build relationships with their older customers’ caretakers or family members when permission is granted, enabling personalized support and long-term financial planning.
The news: A new report indicates major banks committed a staggering $869 billion to fossil fuel companies in 2024, an increase of $162 billion over the previous year. Most large US banks have also pulled back from global climate alliances, signaling a broader industry shift away from sustainability commitments. While profitable, these investments risk alienating younger generations like Gen Z, who deeply value environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices and authenticity from financial institutions (FIs), and already demonstrate low trust in banks. This puts FIs at risk of further eroding crucial customer loyalty. Our take: FIs that remain committed to ESG should focus on these actions in their marketing campaigns targeting Gen Zers.
The news: The banking sector is evolving towards embedded finance and enhanced data-sharing, allowing customers to access financial products and services from any provider, on any platform. This unbundling trend, driven by fintechs, could marginalize traditional banks. The article draws a parallel to the music industry's digital disruption, where unbundling (like iTunes) and streaming (like Spotify) fundamentally reshaped its value chain. This transformation, catalyzed by companies like Napster, created diverse new models. The opportunity: Similar to how streaming music providers anticipate continued growth, banking customers increasingly seek unbundled services, with fintechs outpacing traditional financial institutions in new checking account openings as consumers hold multiple accounts for specific needs.
Consumers aren’t just looking for deals—they’re looking for brands they can trust. Nearly 80% of consumers say they’d be more likely to try a new retailer if it appeared in their bank’s rewards program, according to a new report from EMARKETER and Chase Media Solutions.
The news: Despite reports that the CFPB plans to repeal Section 1033 of its Open Banking Rule due to legal challenges, financial institutions (FIs) shouldn’t abandon their open banking efforts. Citizens Bank, for instance, still intends to leverage open banking for secure data sharing and an improved customer experience, driven by market demand rather than regulatory requirements. Our take: Open banking is still the "next step in banking technology" and will continue to advance due to rising customer expectations around data sharing. FIs that retreat risk falling behind in a market that demands transparency, personalization, and interoperability.
The news: To effectively engage Gen Z, banks must offer more than just basic digital experiences. This generation demands instant gratification, expecting rapid account openings, quick loan decisions, and frictionless onboarding. Gen Z also prefers visual learning, gravitating toward video explanations and gamified education for financial literacy. Despite their digital fluency, they still value human connection for problem-solving, requiring quick access to live help. Our take: Banks should move beyond traditional "channels" or "products" and design a responsive, omnichannel ecosystem that delivers education, trust, and personalization in real time, fitting seamlessly into Gen Z’s lives.
The news: Over 40% of US consumers are comfortable with AI managing investments, and 89% are open to new technology, seeing it as trustworthy for financial advice, per a TD Bank survey. However, current AI-driven personal finance management (PFM) tools often lack human oversight, leading to poor or misleading advice, especially for vulnerable users. Our take: FIs should differentiate themselves from fintechs by highlighting the crucial role human expertise still plays in their offerings—making them more trustworthy than their competitors.
Major financial institutions like Bank of America are exploring issuing their own stablecoins, viewing it as a crucial strategic move. Tokenization, the underlying technology, enables payment transactions to settle in seconds, automating compliance and cutting costs significantly (e.g., 40-60% in bond operations). This transforms static financial instruments into dynamic, programmable assets, appealing to a broader, potentially younger, customer base through innovations like fractional ownership. Failing to lead in tokenization risks U.S. banks losing their global market dominance, especially if retailers develop their own digital currencies, bypassing traditional payment systems. Smaller institutions can participate by partnering or leveraging existing stablecoin services from larger players.
Credit unions have historically championed white-glove service through personalized customer care, a key differentiator. However, the term's vagueness risks inconsistency and superficiality, potentially neglecting internal staff experience and ultimately harming customer service. To truly excel, financial institutions (FIs) must embed human-centric care into their core culture, beyond just outward presentation. This involves training employees in empathy, rewarding complex problem-solving skills, and redesigning products around customer milestones rather than sales. Ultimately, genuine differentiation for FIs lies in authentic financial partnership and a deep understanding of unique customer needs, which larger, less personal entities cannot easily replicate.
Over half of US small business owners are aged 55 or older, making succession planning critical, with 45% planning to pass businesses to children. A notable 62% of owners have accelerated retirement timelines, and 37% plan to sell within 12 months, indicating a rapid wave of SMB transitions for banks to prepare for. Small businesses have favored personalized banking, but digitally native successors will demand enhanced digital features, addressing past complaints about lagging experiences. Banks must prioritize developing superior digital tools, including seamless onboarding and relevant financial advice. Engaging early with future owners and understanding their needs, such as startup funding or growth capital, is crucial for securing these vital relationships.
The news: PayPal is launching storefront-style ads that allow users to buy products directly within display ads on publisher sites, using PayPal or Venmo without leaving the page. Debuting in the US with partners like Business Insider and Vox Media, the units will later expand to include carousels and listings. This move strengthens PayPal’s financial media network footprint after its 2023 Ads launch. Our take: As FMN spend is set to reach $1.78B by 2027, PayPal is embedding commerce where consumers already are. These shoppable ads address friction, drive impulse purchases, and position PayPal as a safeguard against rising AI-driven agentic commerce.
Regions Bank is navigating banking M&A activity by opting against acquiring other financial institutions itself. This strategy allows them to avoid the significant internal disruptions—like integrating systems and workforces—that typical mergers cause. Instead, Regions focuses on maintaining stability and leveraging the confusion and frustration experienced by customers and employees of merging competitors. By presenting itself as a familiar, relationship-focused alternative, Regions actively targets and builds connections with those dissatisfied individuals. This approach facilitates organic growth and talent acquisition, proving a valuable strategy for institutions that prefer to avoid the complexities and risks associated with large-scale M&A.
Digital banks lead in attracting Gen Z, with 54% preferring non-traditional providers for real-time payouts and aligned social values. However, traditional banks are adapting. They're boosting digital capabilities, like Truist's mobile ID verification, and personalizing experiences, such as U.S. Bank's targeted social media marketing and immediate rewards. Traditional FIs leverage existing strengths, emphasizing low fees and an omnichannel approach that blends digital convenience with in-person options. Winning Gen Z requires a strategic mix of digital excellence, relevant marketing that resonates, and human-centric personalization, delivering tailored and empowering financial interactions for long-term loyalty.
Lloyds, NatWest, and Truist are redefining banking with generative AI. Lloyds moves beyond individual use cases to rethink processes entirely, aiming for a customer-facing AI agent by late summer 2025. NatWest shifted to reimagining entire customer experiences, empowering all 70,000 employees with AI tools to rapidly explore new possibilities. Truist focuses on "knowledge extraction," a low-risk, high-reward use case demonstrating immediate value. Continuous experimentation and adaptable strategies are crucial for AI implementation, requiring agile learning, boundary-pushing, and prioritizing employee buy-in for customer-focused solutions.
National Bank is distinguishing itself as the first major Canadian bank to implement a secure data feed (API) for its retail customers to share financial information with approved fintech applications, putting it ahead of Canada's potential 2026 open banking rollout. This innovative approach significantly reduces security risks by redirecting customers to National Bank's own website for identity verification, eliminating the need for customers to share online banking passwords with third-party aggregators (known as "screen scraping"). By taking an 80% stake in Flinks, a financial data aggregator that now accredits fintechs, National Bank transforms a potential threat to customer loyalty into an opportunity to deepen relationships, ensuring it remains the central hub for customers' financial lives even as they use other apps.
Truist is making significant strides in optimizing its digital onboarding process, prioritizing increased personalization and a smoother customer journey to attract new clients. This multi-pronged strategy includes enabling mobile ID verification to boost conversion rates among younger generations, seamlessly integrating new clients with services like direct deposit and Zelle to establish Truist as their primary bank, and allowing personalized mobile app dashboards. These digital improvements, supported by AI for feedback aggregation, aim to offset the impact of branch closures and meet the demand for digital convenience, particularly from Gen Z. Truist should amplify marketing efforts to highlight the ease and speed of their fully digital onboarding, emphasizing that no in-person ID verification is required.
A recent study revealed that Gen Z is struggling with a desire for immediate summer fun with rising costs. Nearly half of Gen Z believes future planning is pointless, driving 37% to spend more on non-essentials and 32% to defer financial priorities until after summer. This presents a prime opportunity for financial institutions to engage Gen Z by framing budgeting as a tool for maximizing summer enjoyment rather than restricting it. Banks should offer intuitive, gamified budgeting tools with real-time insights and vibrant visuals. As summer ends, institutions need to be ready to help Gen Z transition back to financial planning with integrated tools, debt management workshops, and goal-setting features, cementing their role as a trusted partner.