Infusing Digitization withHuman Understanding Today’s banking customersdemand seamless supportdeftly managed with a humantouch. “For banks, this meanssimplifying the client journeywith online and mobile In 2026 and beyond,TrendzOwl proposesthree fast-developingthemes in banking and The Digital Turn Digital-only banks, fintech firms, and big-tech companiescontinue to take market share from traditional banks thathave been slow to digitally transform; as a result, banks are A Focus on Data Security When it comes to cyber-attacks, the financial sector wasthe second-most targeted industry in 2024, accounting for The Critical Nature of the Human TouchHyper-personalized financial support results from a streamlined agent experience and a single view of 84% TRENDZ SPOTLIGHT Adjusting to Rapidly Changing TimesAs digitization races ahead, today’s BFS customers expect personalized online and mobile experiences. One study found that 84% of customers use onlinebanking, and 72% use mobile apps to reach their primary bank. Customers of customers useonline banking 72% Traditional banks understand that they must keep pace with these dynamics.To do so, they “must look at how they organize themselves, strategize,collaborate, upskill their workforce and how customers interact with their use mobile apps Making the Shift: The Role of Data in CX OptimizationData management is key to making the digital shift successful. For banks, delivering on hyper-personalization is all about unifying customer data acrosssystems and software. It’s about streamlining the agent experience andimproving agent efficiency by surfacing data from disparate sources into a Security & PrivacyBut the digital shift also comes with risk. “These technologies help banks respond to macroeconomic and geopolitical shifts, but also introduce Almost80% of bankingexecutives expectcyber-attacks,fraud and financialcrime to have a In fact, when it comes to cyber-attacks, the financial sector was the second-most targeted industry in 2024. Given that the financial sector accounted for22% of all data breaches that year, it’s unsurprising that nearly 80% of bankingexecutives anticipate major impacts from cyber threats, highlighting the urgent Intriguingly, most banks perceive new regulations—despite rising compliancecosts—as enablers of innovation rather than obstacles. How so? Considerthat as rising geopolitical tensions increase the likelihood of regulatorydivergence on data privacy due to a turn toward “sovereignty” across the HUMAN-DRIVEN SUPPORT The Confusing Realities of AI & the PersistentNeed for Human Interaction of consumerswant one-on-onepersonal But there’s more to the digital shift than meets the eye. According to EconomistImpact, which surveyed over 1,700 senior banking executives, experimentationwith GenAI is increasingly common, but returns are hard to come by. Indeed,“GenAI adoption is widespread—almost all banking executives report some levelof integration—but financial returns have fallen short. Just over half of executives A recent report by MIT, “The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025,” suggeststhat poor implementations of the technology may be to blame for most of thesubpar results from GenAI adoption. It seems people and organizations areexperiencing a “learning gap” in that they simply do not yet understand how to Interestingly, other BFS-specific studies are more positive about AI’s early impactwhen implemented correctly. According to a recent Zendesk report, “59% ofbusiness leaders attest to measurable ROI as a result of investments in AI, while77% of consumers say AI is helpful for simple issues. However, many bankingconsumers still prefer interacting with human agents for higher-stakes tasks. 63%of consumers want one-on-one personal conversations with bank representatives, WORLDWIDE REGIONAL TRENDZ The United States: The Need for Smart Optimization StrategiesIn the United States, self-service in banking continues to gain momentum. Benchmark data from Zendesk show a 5.4 times growth in self-service adoption infinancial services. This makes sense because a “robust self-service strategy drives Meantime, banking via mobile apps is a related trend. According to a surveyconducted by Morning Consult on behalf of the American Bankers Association,over half of U.S. consumers “are conducting their banking via mobile apps moreoften than any other method. The national survey found that consumers continueto embrace digital banking channels, with 55% of bank customers using apps And then there’s another important related trend—mobile payments. Accordingto a recent Raddon Research Insights survey of more than 1,500 U.S. consumers,mobile payment adoption is now mainstream, with 74% of consumers using theirphone’s payment app. But the competition to be the primary credit card in theseapps is intense. “Nearly 9 out of 10 mobile-payment users default to just one card In fact, “only 13% of mobile-payment users who have multi