Regardless of rising demand for product personalization, most banking prospects are underwhelmed by the personalization they obtain, underscoring a spot between between buyer expectations and what banks are delivering in expertise, in accordance to a brand new examine by Hong Kong-based technique consultancy Quinlan and Associates in partnership with administration consulting firm Synpulse.
The examine, which polled almost 150 customers in 2025, discovered that almost three quarters (74%) of banking prospects think about personalization crucial to their banking expertise. But 71% of those that worth personalization say they’ve both not skilled it or are dissatisfied with what they’re receiving. This implies that, regardless of sturdy demand, solely a small minority really obtain tailor-made experiences that meet their expectations and ship actual satisfaction.
Moreover, lower than half (44%) of the shoppers who think about personalization essential have really skilled it in any respect. This reveals that many banks are nonetheless not outfitted to offer significant, individualized worth, suggesting that personalization stays an under-stated precedence.
Even amongst those that have obtained customized companies, greater than half (52%) should not happy, highlighting that banks’ personalization efforts lacked enough thought and implementation rigor.
Underwhelming personalization and buyer expertise contribute to decrease retention charges within the banking sector in comparison with different industries. The shopper retention fee in banking stood at 75% in 2024, properly under the non-banking common of 82.5%. Retention within the sector has declined in recent times, underscoring persistent gaps in service high quality and buyer satisfaction.
Rising competitors within the banking panorama
Falling retention charges additionally mirror intensifying competitors from digital banks which can be elevating expertise requirements.
In Hong Kong, digital financial institution Mox Financial institution presents a streamlined onboarding course of that takes nearly 5 minutes on common, with roughly 70% of candidates being processed with out the necessity for handbook intervention.
Throughout Asia, UOB’s digital model TMRW makes use of synthetic intelligence (AI) to anticipate wants and ship curated insights and rewards suited to particular person preferences.
In China, Tencent-backed WeBank leverages AI, blockchain, cloud computing, and large knowledge to serve underbanked people and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), utilizing these applied sciences for underwriting, product matching, and hyper-targeting.
Features from addressing the personalization hole
The Quinlan and Associates analysis signifies that closing this personalization hole may unlock important income for banks by bettering buyer acquisition, engagement, and loyalty.
Through the use of first-party knowledge, buyer relationship administration (CRM) insights, and third-party behavioral indicators, banks can tailor product consciousness and advertising and marketing campaigns to a buyer’s life stage, objectives, and monetary context, probably boosting buyer acquisition by 63%.
In engagement, adverts, emails, and push notifications may be dynamically tailored to a buyer’s habits, preferences, and interplay historical past to extend relevance and click-through charges, bettering engagement by 36%.
Banks also can personalize the product journey by adapting product suggestions, featured presentation, and help to a buyer’s profile, intent and habits. Clients are discovered to be 94% extra more likely to buy a customized product than a generic providing.
Efficient personalization additionally improves retention. Experiences tailor-made to tenure, life occasions, and transaction habits can reinforce belief, and deepen engagement for long-term retention, growing retention by 69%.
Outcomes from the Quinlan and Associates examine align with different latest analysis. Accenture’s Banking Client Examine 2025, launched in March, additionally underscores the crucial significance of personalization. Polling greater than 49,000 prospects throughout 39 international locations and 700 banks, the examine discovered {that a} lack of connection in digital interactions is pushing prospects to hunt extra private banking experiences and diversify their banking relationships.
In consequence, many shoppers are partaking with extra suppliers. 73% of consumers now use a number of banks past their major monetary establishment, and 58% have bought a monetary service or product from a brand new supplier within the final 12 months.
Featured picture: Edited by Fintech Information Singapore, primarily based on picture by thanyakij-12 through Freepik
