Banking's Top 10 Hot Trends to Watch in 2025
GenAI is behind every one of the top 10!
Accenture’s number one banking trend for 2025 is “banking for all,” I salute Accenture for making this their top pick!
Banking and society are becoming ever more digital, and I see fintech's crowning achievement as being able to bring banking to reach more people than ever before.
Surprisingly, Accenture doesn’t pull any punches and tells banks to: “Shift your mindset. Instead of dismissing small or challenging segments, ask “how could we help them?”
I am delighted to see Accenture remind bankers of their obligation to serve everyone in society, not just the wealthy. Bankers need the reminder.
GenAI is behind virtually every trend in the top 10, and while that may be expected, I still doubt it can deliver at the levels predicted in these top 10.
Do you really believe that waiting on hold for human customer service will miraculously disappear? I don’t, especially after my 8-minute hold on a text chat with Revolut this morning!
Trend 3 hit home with me. Accenture’s “Scale Matters” aligns with my consistent message that there will be more digital losers than winners in our new banking world.
Sadly, neither Accenture nor any other management consultant has articulated a strategy to help the losers!
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👉THE TOP 10 Banking Trends for 2025
🔥1. Technology enables banking for all🔥
Generative AI promises to unlock the next wave of personalized, customer-centric innovation, driving financial empowerment for all.
By 2030, the widespread adoption of digital technologies and AI will make banking universally accessible. Banks will be able to deliver inclusive, personalized and proactive services for individuals and businesses across the globe.
2. Regulators quest to eliminate risk is creating new risk
Regulatory pressure is pushing borrowers toward the non-bank sector for their mortgages and commercial credit. By 2030, the largest banks may not be banks. Non-traditional players will have reshaped the financial landscape, pushing traditional banks to innovate, collaborate and adapt.
🔥3. Scale matters more than ever🔥
As the gap between the largest banks and their smaller rivals widens, scale is emerging as the ultimate competitive advantage.
By 2030, scale will define success. The largest institutions will leverage unmatched efficiencies, technological innovation, and global reach to outpace competitors and reshape the financial landscape.
4. Customer experiences go back to the future (I’ll believe this when I see it.)
By 2030, banks will fully transform their operations to offer hyper-personalized banking experiences, anticipating customer needs, driving loyalty, and fostering long-term growth. (You’ll likely still be put on hold while waiting for a human!)
5. Product strategy: From siloed to inseparably connected
Generative AI is shifting banking from a product-centric to a customer-centric model. Banks can tailor their products and services to meet the unique needs of each customer segment, empowering customers to create their own personalized banking solutions.
6. A different way of working
By 2030, generative AI will be fully integrated into every aspect of banking, automating routine tasks and fostering seamless collaboration between AI and human employees.
🔥7. A shift from ‘waste out’ to ‘value in’🔥
Generative AI will drive "waste out" by automating manual processes like risk and compliance testing, reducing costs by up to 60% in the next two to three years. It will also bring "value in" by freeing customer-facing talent to focus on high-value interactions.
8. The future is open source
The future of banking is being reshaped by open-source systems. Banks are moving away from legacy technologies to platforms like Linux, which offer unparalleled agility, efficiency, and security.
9. Traditional coding fades into the past
By 2030, all banks will use generative AI for application development, and many will tackle their technical debt by migrating securely from their aging core platforms.
10. Platform providers face the innovator’s dilemma
Generative AI is driving the SaaS and banking platform providers to innovate and elevate their offerings. These providers are increasingly embracing composable architectures, which allow for easy integration and customization.
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