Because the transition to Synthetic Intelligence (AI) in monetary providers accelerates and cellular banking pervades, banks and different monetary establishments should work more durable to create extra personalised buyer experiences and construct belief if they’re to beat buyer issues about privateness, safety and lack of human interplay.
RFI International’s Developments and Predictions report, launched immediately, dives deep into how international customers and companies take into consideration, select and expertise monetary providers to disclose 5 key client traits and predictions that can form the sector in 2026.
In line with the report, an awesome majority of customers – 95% in Singapore, 94% in Australia, 84% within the USA – have issues about AI-powered monetary providers.
Concern that over-reliance on AI will result in fewer alternatives for human interplay and experience is a high 3 concern. Nevertheless, fewer customers in Australia (29%) and Hong Kong (25%) declare this concern – in comparison with banking customers within the USA (53%), Canada (45%) and Malayasia (42%).
“In a panorama of speedy technological change, banks and neobanks alike should construct belief by way of transparency, bias checks, common audits, and readability about how AI is used and the place human experience stays very important,” mentioned Caitlin Hill, Insights Director at RFI International. “Banks that meet customers with transparency, the reassurance of human assist and hybrid fashions will differentiate themselves in a crowded market.”
Privateness and safety impacts buyer retention
Privateness and safety is one other high cited concern associated to AI-powered monetary providers globally with 55% within the USA, 50% in Malaysia, 44% in Canada, 41% in Singapore expressing issues, in comparison with 37% in Australia and 28% in Hong Kong.
This has impacted buyer retention, with 5-20% of consumers throughout markets – 5% in Australia, 6% within the UK and 11% within the USA – stating their dissatisfaction with how the financial institution responded to them once they fell sufferer to banking fraud as a motive they’re contemplating switching their main financial institution. This determine reaches 20% within the UAE.
“Pushed by AI, the dimensions, velocity and class of fraud has turned it right into a larger international menace,” mentioned Luke Allchin, Director, North America at RFI International.
Innovation creates best-in-class digital banking experiences
Insights from RFI International’s iSky platform, which tracks 1000’s of client and enterprise interactions on greater than 200 banking and finance apps worldwide, level to an accelerated interval of innovation by main establishments and smaller challengers.
These new customer-controlled options could have been initiated to unlock new income streams, however in addition they present extra empowerment for customers to handle their digital footprint and profile, addressing issues round privateness and safety.
New privateness and security measures have been added in over the previous 2 years: 13.8% of banks have built-in app performance to lock or disable a card; 11% have added the power to masks private info on the interface for the primary time; and 16% of banks have included profile or account closing options in app. Additional, certainly one of most extremely wanted options globally – the power to cancel and change a card – has additionally grown by 3% yr on yr.
“Banks are now not simply offering digital entry; they’re designing digital empowerment,” mentioned Mark Donohue, Managing Director, iSky at RFI International, who based the lately acquired iSky Analysis. “Collectively these improvements level to a sector quickly professionalising its digital capabilities. But there’s nonetheless extra to be performed to deal with buyer issues. The following 12 months can be pivotal, figuring out which suppliers lead on service and people left to compete on worth.”
Different traits highlighted within the report are:
- Companies much less cautious about AI than customers. SMEs have gotten much less cautious about the usage of AI in banking as they recognise AI’s potential to enhance operational effectivity and cut back value. One in 4 UK SMEs (27%) haven’t any issues about the usage of AI in banking, down from one in 10 two years in the past. Additional, as an indication of confidence that banks are listening, solely 38% of SMEs in Australia imagine that AI chatbots won’t ever replicate human interplay.
- Neobanks are now not simply disruptors, they’re shifting in the direction of full service monetary establishments. After a decade of explosive progress, notably within the UK and USA, neobanks are coming into a brand new part of sustainable profitability; marked not by sheer buyer acquisition however by deepening buyer engagement and cross-sell ratios pushed by demand for worth, innovation and built-in monetary experiences. Revolut, Europe’s Most worthy fintech and SoFi within the USA exemplify this shift.
- Past banking options. Within the UK, neobanks have expanded into digital funding functions comparable to tradeable property, crypto, shares, valuable metals and multinational currencies whereas constructing rewards and socialised banking options.
- Prosperous investments will rise – as rates of interest lower, prosperous customers are reallocating funds from financial savings into investments as they more and more take cost of their future wealth.
- Use of AI in banking will observe the identical trajectory as cellular banking – sluggish beginnings after which speedy progress as soon as established.
You possibly can obtain RFI International’s 2026 Developments and Predictions report right here.