As we step into a new year, it’s the perfect time to talk about the trends in customer experience that are set to shape the financial sector in the years ahead. Our insights come from thousands of hours of in-depth interviews with customers across North America and Europe, as well as hundreds of conversations with fintech industry leaders and technology service providers.
Alongside the technical revolution in the field of AI and quantum computing, one of the most significant changes on the horizon is the implementation of Open Banking regulations, expected between 2024-2027, with variations in formats and names across regions (PSD2, PSD3, CFPB frameworks, Consumer-Driven Banking Framework, CDR etc.)
This shift brings exciting opportunities for companies, but launching new financial services remains lengthy. Technical complexity and security challenges, regulatory requirements, tight budgets, and limited internal resources often mean it takes around 12-24 months to roll out a new product.
With this in mind, we decided to pivot the focus of this article from the current CX trends in financial services to a broader forecast for the next 3-5 years.
By nature humans prefer simplicity over complexity, it’s like an internal embedded self-protection mechanism, allowing our brains to save energy and keep us in resourceful conditions.
The current state of the financial industry and consumer banking is far from being simple. As you may observe over the last decade many neo-banks, like Nubank, Revolute, Monzo, Neofinantial, Monobank, Koho, grab market positions thanks to excellent user experience and simple product offering. Advancements in the technology and more flexible regulations going to push things even further
So, what trends will drive customer engagement in banking? And what are the most feasible ideas to get new customers?
Below you will find our 7 wild predictions about what are the next big things in consumer banking customer experience.
1. Conversational Banking
As technology evolves, so do customer expectations. Convenience and speed have become the gold standard, pushing fintech industry trends toward faster interactions.
Conversational Banking is part of the daily digital banking experience (especially mobile), where tasks could be done via voice commands. Examples include checking account balances, making P2P transfers, lending, setting up deposits, analyzing personal financial management (PFM) data, etc.
The underlying trend is the adoption of AI technology (especially voice recognition), at the enterprise level, with local hosting of AI models and regulatory compliance. This trend will drive meaningful digital transformation for financial customer experience.
⏰ Market adoption: 2028-2030 (region-based).
👍 Pros: More convenient and faster operations in an intuitive way. Higher customer engagement.
👎 Risks: Security and identification remain challenges for widespread adoption.
2. Super Finance / Banking Apps
Super Apps aren’t entirely new, but they’re set to redefine banking trends as market leaders consolidate data from multiple sources like banks, fintech apps, and other financial platforms. These apps could also evolve into marketplaces, integrating niche services into their ecosystems and offering users a one-stop financial solution.
The underlying trend is the rise of multi-banking. Most consumers today manage two or more active bank accounts alongside additional providers for deposits, investments (TFSA, RRSP), crypto, insurance, or co-branded credit cards from brands like Walmart, Costco, or Tim Hortons. Open banking paves the way for more fintech players, driving the need for consolidation through Super Apps.
As more fintech companies are expected on the market, we foresee that consumers will struggle with managing all types of the accounts and will be looking for some sort of consolidation. So, how to improve online banking services then?
The marketplace concept can benefit both big and small market players, accelerating the innovation for the first one and reducing time to market and entrance barriers for the new players. Concept of embedded marketplace perfectly works on platforms like Zoom, Slack, Wix, and many others
⏰ Market adoption: 2027-2030
👍 Pros: Simplifies account management and offers seamless access to multiple services in one place.
👎 Risks: Over-centralization could raise security concerns, and consumers might face potential data breaches.
3. Do-It-Yourself Banking
The days of one-size-fits-all financial products are numbered. Financial service providers are shifting toward a DIY (do-it-yourself) approach, where customers can dynamically customize and adjust product features, benefits, and tariff plans to suit their ever-changing needs.
The underlying trend is that consumers are growing frustrated with overfeatured and overpriced BFSI products. When financial services offer too much or don’t align with actual needs, it results in lower utilization and reduced value. Additionally, extensive product offerings – like separate cards for different purposes – complicate account management, leaving customers feeling overwhelmed.
To exceed customer expectations within this CX trend, banks must focus on personalization, simplicity and flexibility.
⏰ Market adoption: 2026-2028
👍 Pros: Greater control, flexibility, and value from personalized products.
👎 Risks: Over-customization could confuse some users, and maintaining flexibility might increase operational costs for providers.
4. Robo-advisors for Wealth Management & Investment
Robo-advisors are transforming customer experience trends in wealth management and investment. These AI-powered tools provide fast, personalized solutions for building effective investment strategies and managing capital, making them accessible to the mass market. They help individuals make smarter financial decisions without advanced expertise.
This fintech industry trend is no longer just a prediction – it’s quickly becoming a reality.
In April 2024, JPMorgan Chase sought to patent its predictive AI aimed at spotting overly aggressive investors.
BlackRock has developed an AI platform Aladdin which provides risk analysis and portfolio management solutions. Aladdin processes market data for risk assessment to improve investment strategies.
Platforms like Betterment and Wealthfront use AI to manage portfolios, rebalance investments, and optimize tax strategies.
Virtu Financial, a high-frequency trading (HFT) firm, executes thousands of trades per second through their AI-driven algorithmic trading.
The underlying trend is the democratization of market trend analytics through AI. These tools not only simplify the decision-making process but also lead to automated trading in regions with supportive regulatory environments. This combination of accessibility and automation marks a significant step toward financial inclusion and smarter investments.
⏰ Market adoption: 2025-2028
👍 Pros: Easy access to advanced analytics, personalized investment strategies, and potential for improved financial outcomes.
👎 Risks: Heavy reliance on AI & automated trading raises concerns about algorithmic biases, hallucinations and explainability issues. Ethical concerns also emerge – who takes responsibility for the final decisions and their outcomes?
5. Barrierless Provider Change
One of the most promising digital banking trends is switching financial service providers without any friction.
Changing financial service providers has always been a hassle, with endless paperwork and delays. Thanks to open banking, that’s set to change. It allows customers to securely share their data, making overall customer experience in banking barrierless.
The underlying trend here is open banking, giving customers the freedom to move accounts or services from Bank-A to Bank-B with ease. This will push providers to compete harder, offer better deals and experiences to retain their customers.
⏰ Market adoption: 2026-2028
👍 Pros: Greater freedom to choose providers, hassle-free access to better deals and services. An opportunity for more competitive banks to attract new customers.
👎 Risks: Data privacy and security concerns during the transition process. Could negatively impact customer engagement for less competitive banks, as users may quickly switch to alternatives.
6. Instant Communication
24/7, ad-hoc communication is also among the most transformative fintech industry trends for 2025 and beyond.
Current trends in financial services show that customer service & support is often a huge pain point. You can hold on the line for dozens of minutes to get through AVR’s, endless voice menus, and find the right person to solve your request. Yes, the customer journey is seldom straightforward.
Instant communication is at the heart of future customer experience. To deliver the best banking experience, the next generation customer support will rely on AI agents capable of getting online with customers instantly and resolving most service requests and inquiries in real time.
The underlying trend is the adoption of Large Language Models (LLMs), which will deliver a human-like level of interaction combined with high speed and problem-solving accuracy. This customer experience trend resonates with the natural human desire to simplify processes and matches the fast pace of modern life.
⏰ Market adoption: 2025-2028
👍 Pros: Instant access to support, faster issue resolution, improved loyalty and overall customer satisfaction in banks.
👎 Risks: Over-reliance on AI agents may lead to miscommunication or errors, and some customers may prefer human interaction for complex issues.
7. Augmented Banking Experience
Technology and customer experience go hand in hand. To wrap up this list of fintech industry trends, let’s explore one of the most exciting and futuristic approaches to customer experience – the augmented banking.
Our CX research team conducted over hundreds of interviews with premium and affluent customers and to uncover a key insight:
Bank customers value personal interaction with banking employees, particularly in Premium segments. Personal managers are invaluable for building trust and loyalty.
However, the limited ability to expand traditional networks, combined with the rise of Neo-banks and consumer-facing fintechs, is creating new opportunities for innovation.
We predict that by the end of the 2020s, some forward-thinking banks in the Middle East, UK, and the US West Coast will offer virtual branch experiences. These will leverage AR/VR wearables such as Apple Vision Pro, Meta Quest, and Xreal Air to deliver immersive, interactive banking CX.
The underlying trend is obvious – the rapid adoption of VR technology. The VR market is projected to grow from 16.32 billion in 2024 to 123.06 billion USD by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insight. AR/VR is expanding beyond gaming and entertainment into the business and financial sector.
⏰ Market adoption: 2029-2030
👍 Pros: Highly innovative, engaging, and personalized while maintaining a human touch. Adds gamification elements and gives early adopters a new competitive advantage.
👎 Risks: Expensive and complex for financial institutions to implement, requiring AR/VR hardware and specialized software. Additionally, access to VR is limited for many customers, which could restrict widespread adoption.
Are these fintech industry trends here to stay?
The listed trends paint an exciting picture of how customer experience trends could evolve in the coming years. From digital banking trends like instant communication to groundbreaking ideas like augmented reality, the financial sector is on the brink of significant transformation. These predictions are backed by thousands of hours of in-depth interviews with customers across the globe, insights shared by fintech industry leaders and market dynamics.
As competition heats up, it’s pushing financial providers to up their game, rolling out tools and services that make life easier and more intuitive.
However, are these CX trends set in stone? Definitely not – only time will tell if these predictions hold true 🙂
