The Evolution of Banking: Key strategies and technologies shaping customer interactions in 2025 

Transcript 

00:00:00 

In the webinar, Roberto Ferrari, the digital innovation community leader of Qorus, introduces the event, emphasizing its focus on the digital evolution of banking and customer interactions. He explains that the community, comprising over 180 institutions and 450 members, aims to share insights, trends, and strategies in digital transformation within the financial sector. 

Ferrari highlights the purpose of the community: to facilitate learning and knowledge sharing among financial leaders and innovators. He encourages active participation from members to exchange ideas and experiences. 

The webinar features a digital panel with guest speakers discussing the customer life cycle in banking. Ferrari mentions ongoing research focusing on the digital banking evolution and customer interaction management throughout the customer life cycle. The research includes a global survey and in-depth executive interviews to understand the impact of digital strategies on customer interactions. Pedro Leite from ebankIT briefly discusses the importance of the research for the company. 

00:05:00 

The focus is on improving customer experience in the banking sector by identifying trends and investment areas. The speakers emphasize the importance of filtering through the numerous industry buzzwords to guide financial institutions effectively. Pedro Leite from ebankIT underscores the significance of understanding where financial institutions are investing to aid in their evolution and provide proper guidance amidst various industry topics. He highlights the value of today's discussion with participating financial institutions to delve deeper into these subjects. 

Roberto Ferrari reiterates the importance of the global research being conducted, which aims to provide an in-depth perspective on industry developments. He informs attendees that the session is being recorded and encourages audience interaction through raising hands or using the chat feature. Participants will receive the research report once it's completed, expected in about a month. 

The conversation then shifts to the impact of digital customer engagement in the banking industry. One speaker from Mashreq Bank explains that their strategy involves merging traditional and fully digital banking segments. This merger reflects the growing customer preference for digital interactions and the extensive digitization of banking functions. The speaker emphasizes that the future of consumer banking will be digital, complemented by a human touch, from acquisition to onboarding and ongoing customer engagement. 

Another speaker, Nuno, discusses his experience with Millennium BCP, a multi-channel financial institution. He highlights the importance of digital sales, even within institutions that maintain a strong traditional presence. 

00:10:00 

In this portion of the webinar, participants discuss the transformation of banking through digital initiatives while maintaining traditional, human-based services. Nuno Reis from Millennium BCP emphasizes the increasing role of digital interactions with customers, with over 65% of their customers logging in more than once daily. He also stresses the importance of balancing physical branch networks with digital services to provide comprehensive customer support. He notes the effort to merge physical and digital experiences, allowing seamless transitions between them and highlights the goal of remaining relevant to customers by engaging them at the right time with pertinent data, ensuring value and relevance in every interaction. 

Tracey Williams from Absa group affirms that digital transformation has been a priority for several years, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. She also recognizes the ongoing importance of physical branches, which offer cultural and relational value to customers. She points out that customers increasingly desire control over their banking, seeking seamless access to financial services at any time and discusses the dual focus on digitizing both customer and colleague experiences to enhance efficiency and support.

00:15:00  

In this part of the webinar, participants discuss the integration of digital and human elements in banking, emphasizing the importance of a balanced approach. Tracey Williams highlights the need for a multi-channel strategy that empowers customers to perform simple transactions digitally when needed and stresses that while digital channels are crucial, human support remains essential for providing personalized experiences. She also notes that colleagues should be equipped with digital tools and data to assist customers effectively, especially in onboarding and support. 

Burçe Gültekin from Yapi Kredi, explains that Turkey is a leader in digital banking, driven by a young population and shares that a significant portion (40%) of new customers are acquired through digital channels. She also emphasizes the importance of both the regulatory/service design aspect and the marketing/business model aspect of digital customer acquisition. Then she discusses the need for a comprehensive marketing strategy that spans from awareness to conversion, educating potential customers about digital onboarding processes and mentions the integration of banking data with mobile app analytics to manage digital customer onboarding profitably and effectively. 

Both speakers emphasize the importance of a hybrid approach in banking that combines digital convenience with human support. Both speakers stress the need for comprehensive digital strategies that include effective customer education and seamless integration of marketing and product funnels to enhance customer acquisition and experience. 

00:20:00  

Pedro Leite from ebankIT, shares research insights, especially a survey that indicates that nearly all financial institutions are actively engaging in projects around the digital customer life cycle. This shift is not just about digital channels but about creating a rich customer experience. He notes that financial institutions are focusing more on how to engage and manage customers throughout their journey, rather than just selling through digital channels and there is a growing trend to focus on features rather than products to attract customers, as seen in new digital banks.  

Roberto Ferrari, emphasizes how important the customer journey is and highlights the importance of thinking about features that can attract and retain customers. He emphasizes that understanding and managing customer patterns from the beginning is crucial, even before they become customers.  

Tracy Williams, discusses the use of technology for digital marketing to target customers specifically in order to meet them where they are with simpler products. She spoke about Chat Wallet, a limited wallet account accessible via WhatsApp, offering low barriers to entry and zero cost to make banking more accessible and inclusive. She also mentions personalized marketing which focuses on lowering barriers to entry and using targeted marketing to engage customers in a more personalized way. 

The panelists emphasize the importance of understanding customers through segmentation and providing relevant, personalized digital experiences while stressing the need for open platforms to facilitate digital transformation and customer accessibility. 

00:25:00  

Nuno Reis highlights that Millennium BCP as the largest private bank in Portugal, a key strategy is cross-selling to existing customers by offering relevant products.It utilizes digital interactions and transaction data (enabled by PSD2) to understand customer needs and preferences. The Bank focuses on targeted campaigns to attract young customers, who are often drawn to free digital services, and new immigrants, who present both opportunities and challenges. The challenges that the bank faces are acquiring data due to GDPR and using targeted audiences from major digital platforms to reach potential customers who are not currently bank customers. 

Nuno Reis, advocates for a radical shift from traditional to digital banking strategies, emphasizing the need to think more like an e-commerce company rather than merely digitizing existing banking practices. He notes that hiring marketing professionals with e-commerce backgrounds (e.g., from Amazon) would bring a fresh perspective to digital acquisition. 

Radu Topliceanu from Mashreq agrees with Nuno on the necessity of adopting a digital-first approach and running the acquisition process like a digital company rather than a traditional bank and highlights the importance of leveraging new mediums and social media trends to stay relevant and attract customers. 

The discussion emphasizes the need for banks to fully integrate digital strategies from the ground up, rather than as an afterthought. It also focuses on understanding customer needs, using targeted campaigns, and adopting a digital-first mindset to attract and retain customers. IT is also stressed the importance of adapting to new digital trends and mediums to maintain competitiveness in the market. 

00:30:00  

In this segment of the webinar, the panelists emphasize the importance of creating persona-based campaigns and content, running around 30 different value propositions in digital channels. It is said an E-commerce approach that advocates for marketing products and services like an e-commerce company would be a better solution, rather than a traditional bank, to better reach diverse customer types. They also note the importance of relevant content, features, and customer journeys in this new approach. 

It is also highlighted that there has been a major mindset shift from traditional financial operations to behaving like digital players in the financial sector. The survey results support these points, highlighting three main topics: personalization of targeting, partnership promotional campaigns, and content marketing initiatives. 56% of respondents focus on personalization, which can take different forms such as content-oriented strategies or Neo Bank approaches. 52% of banks are exploring partnership promotional campaigns. 45% are focusing on content-specific actions and only 4% indicated no engagement in these digital initiatives, showing widespread adoption. 

Content marketing represents a significant mindset shift, aligning banks with practices seen in e-commerce. Personalization and effective content marketing necessitate robust data analytics, prompting some banks to develop internal tools to enhance their capabilities. Additionally, expanding relationships through strategic partnerships is crucial for capturing new clients. 

The discussion underscores the transformative shift in the banking sector towards digital strategies, personalized targeting, and innovative content marketing, aligning more closely with e-commerce methodologies.

00:35:00  

During the webinar, participants discussed the critical second step of onboarding and account opening. Despite increasing Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations in Europe, technological advancements have significantly streamlined this process. Tracy Williams highlighted the transformation of lengthy home loan applications into more efficient digital journeys, reducing the time to generate final offers from three days to just 20 minutes.  

The focus has shifted from mere efficiency to personalization, with enhanced use of analytics and tools to better understand and engage customers throughout their home-buying journey. Similarly, in Turkey, the introduction of end-to-end digital onboarding regulations in 2021 marked a milestone. Burçe Gültekin emphasized the removal of barriers to customer acquisition and the importance of providing seamless account opening processes using various ID verification technologies. This shift has not only made the process more efficient but also increased competition among banks. 

00:40:00  

The webinar discussion highlighted the importance of addressing customers' specific financial needs during the onboarding process. In Turkey, banks have integrated cross-selling options, such as personal loans, credit cards, and overdraft accounts, into their onboarding procedures to deepen customer relationships from day one. Additionally, digital onboarding for commercial customers has been introduced, despite the complexities involved, such as multiple levels of authority and partnerships. By proactively working with regulators, banks in Turkey launched digital onboarding services as soon as regulations allowed. Artificial intelligence and face ID recognition are expected to further enhance these processes. In the United Arab Emirates, banks benefit from progressive regulations, allowing 100% digital customer onboarding. The emphasis is on seamless journeys and exceptional customer experiences, benchmarking against global standards. 

00:45:00 

In this segment, the speakers discuss their approach to optimizing customer onboarding journeys in banking. It is emphasized benchmarking against top banks and fintechs like Revolut and N26 and setting ambitious targets beyond merely automating existing processes. 

Continuous improvement is highlighted through daily monitoring of customer friction points, agile testing, and incremental gains, aiming for significant transformation over time. The speaker also mentions regulatory advancements in Portugal enabling streamlined digital onboarding for retail and small business customers, facilitated by state authentication. 

00:50:00  

Nuno Reis discusses the challenges and advancements in document processing and customer authentication in banking. They highlight the evolution from OCR to AI and now generative AI to verify customer-provided documents like addresses. The process involves multiple steps of validation and correlation with other customer data to ensure accuracy and streamline account opening. The speaker acknowledges competitive pressures among banks, including comparisons with fintechs like Revolut, emphasizing the ongoing improvement and automation of these processes. They also raise concerns about emerging technologies like Deep fakes posing challenges for fraud detection, stressing the importance of investing in robust cybersecurity measures moving forward.  

00:55:00  

Pedro discusses findings from research indicating significant investments by banks in enhancing customer onboarding processes. He mentions that 67% of institutions are focusing on more advanced KYC (Know Your Customer) technologies, tailored to different regulatory environments globally. The central role of regulations, including involvement by central banks, is noted as influencing these investments. Pedro highlights trends such as digital signatures and improved customer support to streamline onboarding experiences. He emphasizes that banks are increasingly focusing on self-service capabilities and supporting clients throughout their onboarding journey, aiming for minimal friction and drop-offs. Overall, the survey suggests a widespread commitment among banks to continually improve and innovate in customer onboarding practices in the coming years. 

01:00:00  

Roberto discusses the role of digital identity in streamlining customer onboarding processes. He highlights the use of digital identity frameworks in countries like Denmark and Italy, where banks are utilizing digital credentials to expedite the onboarding process. He also mentions the potential use of biometric authentication, such as fingerprint scanning, for customer verification in Pakistan. The speaker also touches upon the trend of open banking, where banks are making their services available on third-party platforms to enhance customer experience and convenience. Additionally, the importance of creating simple and convenient mobile banking experiences for consumers is emphasized. 

01:05:00  

The speakers discuss the future of daily banking and how it will go beyond financial transactions to address both financial and non-financial needs of customers. They mention the shift towards platform banking, such as the "my world" super app, which includes mini apps for managing various aspects of life, from vehicles to homes and vacations. The speakers also touch upon the idea of banking as a service and partnerships with other providers. The goal is to meet customers' needs at the moment of truth and enhance satisfaction by personalizing the banking experience based on individual lifestyles and preferences. 

01:10:00 

The speakers discuss the challenges and opportunities of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in customer interactions, with a particular focus on the EU's new regulations on AI. The speaker expresses concern that these regulations may hinder banks' ability to fully understand and engage with their customers, as they limit certain behaviors and applications of AI technology. However, they also acknowledge that the industry is still in the early stages of this new regulation and that there is potential for further advancements in AI and customer relationship management (CRM) technologies. The speakers also touch on the trend of mobile banking and the increasing adoption of informal channels like WhatsApp for customer support. They highlight the importance of using customer data effectively through advanced CRM capabilities and making data accessible across different databases within banks. Overall, the speakers see a need for improvement in data architecture and usage, as data is considered the most valuable asset in the banking industry. 

01:15:00  

It is discussed how data plays a crucial role in shaping customer interactions in the banking industry. They highlight the importance of an enterprise data platform that can predict customer behavior and transactions, allowing banks to take proactive actions. The speakers also mention the investment in data and self-serving options, with mobile being a key focus. They discuss the potential of generative AI and chatbots to transform customer service and assistance. The speakers also touch upon the importance of retaining customers and building loyalty, emphasizing the need to add value and relevance to customers. 

01:20:00 

The speakers discuss the importance of customer retention and loyalty in the banking industry. They emphasize that being relevant to customers is key, as opposed to offering mere cash-back rewards. The speakers also mention predicting customer behavior and intervening before churn to maintain a win-win relationship. Transparency and engagement through digital channels are highlighted as effective methods for keeping customers engaged and informed. The speakers conclude that preventing customer churn from the onboarding stage is essential, and engaging with relevant content at the right moment can significantly reduce the importance of churn in the banking relationship. 

01:25:00  

In this part of the webinar, the speakers discuss strategies and technologies shaping customer interactions in 2025. From the beginning of customer acquisition to relationship nurturing and expansion, banks invest in various programs to retain customers. These include special rates, rewards plans, and gamification approaches that provide relevant and actionable insights within apps. On the retention side, banks also focus on identifying at-risk clients and communicating effectively with them. Additionally, banks aim to ask clients for more information and give them proactive feedback. The power of data is crucial, but it must be used relevantly for effective communication. Overall, the speakers emphasize the importance of data, clear communication, and customer experience in the banking industry's transformation. 

01:30:00 

The panelists express their gratitude to the audience for tuning in and sharing their insights and opinions throughout the discussion. The speakers acknowledge the importance of adapting to the ever-changing banking landscape and the impact it has on customer interactions. Despite the challenges that may arise, they emphasize the value of staying informed and engaged in the industry. The video concludes with the panelists and the audience thanking each other for a productive and insightful conversation.