The news: The P&C insurance industry posted a 96.6 combined ratio in 2024—its best in 10+ years—despite natural disaster losses. Major reserve boosts, surging premium growth, and smart underwriting (especially in personal auto and homeowners) drove this performance. GenAI adoption further enhanced claims processing and fraud detection. Strategic exits from high-risk areas also curbed losses. Our take: P&C insurers must double down on AI, automation, and risk analytics to sustain profitability amid growing climate volatility and economic headwinds. Innovation in underwriting and pricing, paired with disciplined risk management, will be key to staying resilient in an increasingly unpredictable risk environment.
The news: A recent study found 89% of consumers prefer affordable life insurance with shorter guarantees (to age 90) over “guaranteed-for-life” policies—once visuals and real-world comparisons clarified premium trade-offs. Flexibility and control in coverage and payments also ranked high. Insurers must stop defaulting to lifetime guarantees. Our take: Life insurers should reframe product education using visuals, dollar examples, and jargon-free language to communicate the cost-benefit of “lighter” options. Designing flexible, customizable life insurance policies will attract cost-conscious buyers and boost retention in a market shifting toward personalization and transparency.
The news: Despite lower COVID-19 mortality rates, it remains the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. Lingering health impacts—like long COVID, delayed diagnoses, and worsening chronic conditions—continue to threaten life insurers’ claims experience and profitability. Pre-pandemic underwriting likely underestimated these risks. Our take: Life insurers must recalibrate actuarial and pricing models to account for persistent COVID-19 health risks. Incorporating new medical and mortality data into term life and other products will ensure premiums align with post-pandemic realities, protect margins, and improve risk modeling accuracy in an evolving health landscape.
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.
The news: A proposed merger between Bank of New York Mellon and Northern Trust could create a "monster deal," significantly consolidating the custodial banking space. This large-scale move would pressure smaller competitors, potentially creating a powerhouse in institutional investing and setting new digital efficiency standards. The recent Capital One-Discover acquisition suggests a regulatory environment emboldening such rapid growth. Our take: While large mergers are gaining traction, they're not guaranteed solutions for competitiveness. Banks considering similar strategies must plan meticulously and engage stakeholders. Without careful execution, such integrations can lead to dissatisfied customers and attrition, despite the perceived benefits of scale and market dominance in a hyper-competitive environment.
The news: Banks shouldn't use a single marketing strategy for all young people—Millennials (born 1981-1996) and Gen Z (born 1997-2012) have distinct financial behaviors. Millennials, shaped by economic uncertainty, seek stability and pragmatic digital tools, valuing expert advice. Gen Z, digital natives, demand effortless speed, are influencer-driven, and focus on immediate experiences, often skeptical of traditional banks. Our take: Marketing must be tailored. For millennials, emphasize trust, reliability, and security for long-term goals, offering expert education. For Gen Z, highlight speed, flexibility, and convenience through engaging, short-form content on platforms like TikTok, utilizing influencers to build rapport.
The news: A superior digital interface directly correlates with customer care, boosting recommendations and loyalty. Personalized digital engagement, where banks anticipate Gen Z's needs and provide relevant recommendations, also builds trust. Our take: To combat Gen Z's distrust, banks must prioritize brand authenticity and enhance the digital experience. Banks should invest in seamless onboarding, intuitive mobile apps, and relevant personalized recommendations. Failure to do so means digital competitors will continue to capture this emerging generation of wealth builders by operationalizing care through design and data-driven personalization.
The news: A majority of GLP-1 weight loss drug consumers are now staying on the medications for more than a year, per an annual Prime Therapeutics analysis. The Prime study includes 5,780 people via healthcare claims over three years; the mean age was 47 and 80% were women. The final word: Adherence rates longer than a year validates the idea that prescription weight loss GLP-1s, and newer drugs on the way, are here to stay as chronic disease treatments. It shifts typical weight loss marketing from cyclical—keep your New Year’s resolution or lose weight for your wedding—to medical and consistent.
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.
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.