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News and resources on retail banking, consumer finance and reinventing customer experience in finance.

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Expert opinions

Eric Bierry

Eric Bierry CEO at SBS

Modernizing Banking from the Core: Why Every Tech Investment Must Start with Customers

Customers expect more from banks than ever before between instant payments, personalized offerings and seamless digital experiences–putting pressure on banks to innovate quickly. To meet customers' evolving demands, banks are rethinking the technology that powers their services, from cloud infrastructure to the core banking systems that store and p...

/retail Banking

Luke Allchin

Luke Allchin Director - North America at RFI Global

Mutual Funds vs Bonds: Shifting Household Strategies

As 2026 fast approaches, US households are rethinking their approach to investing. A mix of economic uncertainty, shifting attitudes toward risk, and evolving market perceptions is reshaping how everyday investors allocate their money. Data shows that this shift is fueling a surge in mutual fund investing. For financial institutions, this is more ...

/wealth /retail

Shawn Conahan

Shawn Conahan Chief Revenue Officer at Wildfire Systems, Inc.

Why Banks Should Reconsider Offering Rewards on Debit Card Purchases

For many years, rewards programs have been synonymous with credit cards. From airline miles to cashback bonuses, banks and issuers have relied on these incentives to drive spending and deepen customer relationships. But recent shifts in consumer behavior suggest it may be time for financial institutions to broaden their approach. Debit cards are s...

/retail Fintech

Konstantin Dubovitskiy

Konstantin Dubovitskiy Sr. Account Executive at Checkbook.io

Account Funding Transactions - instant debit pulls are here.

What is AFT? According to Visa’s official documentation, Account Funding Transactions (AFTs) is a transaction type used to withdraw funds from a Visa or Mastercard account for the purpose of funding another account. In simple words - it is an inverse of OCT (Original Credit Transfer). In simpler terms, it means that any user can input their deb

/payments /retail Payments strategies 2015-2020-2030

Teo Blidarus

Teo Blidarus CEO and Co-Founder at FintechOS

How Building Societies Can Digitise Without Losing Their Community Bonds

Building societies occupy an essential place in UK financial services. Member-owned, locally trusted and community-first, they are built on relationships as much as products. Members expect to sit down, talk through decisions and get advice they can believe in. That trust is a strength. The challenge is delivering it alongside the speed and simpli...

/ai /retail Fintech

/retail

Research

Impact Study

Case Management: The key to revolutionising cross-border payments

While the challenges of case management and inefficient E&I processes are not new, the need to address them is more pressing than ever – especially given the G20’s roadmap deadline and the impending global migration to ISO 20022.  In today’s digital era, end-users expect payments to be faster, cheaper and more convenient than ever before – whether domestic or cross-border. As global payment barriers are overcome, banks are tasked not only with meeting customer demands, but business and regulatory ones too.  Enhanced cross-border payments – as supported by the G20’s roadmap and the richer data that ISO 20022 provides – are becoming a real differentiator, with the capability to unlock tremendous value for institutions. However, while a lot of attention is paid to seamless transactions, one area has historically been overlooked: exceptions and investigations (E&I).  This continues to present a significant challenge for both payment providers and corporates, and is impacting numerous networks and technologies. Yet, if harnessed effectively, E&I tools can help institutions significantly reduce costs, speed up processing times, improve transparency and, by extension, satisfy the G20’s targets.  This Finextra impact study, in partnership with Swift, explores:  The advantages of effective E&I processes;  Why solutions are needed to reach the next level; and  How banks can effectively embed them in their infrastructures. 

313 downloads

Impact Study

Reimagining customer journeys: How can banks upscale experience and boost retention?

To stay competitive and better serve their customer base, financial institutions (FIs) must urgently reimagine their customer journeys — from onboarding to the broader lifetime experience — or risk facing a hit to their market share. Technology has significantly transformed the financial services industry, particularly over the last five years. Challenger banks and fintech firms have rapidly gained popularity thanks to their ability to offer fast, simple, digital services. According to data from Plaid, nearly nine out of 10 consumers were using a fintech application in 2023. This percentage will continue to grow.  Financial institutions (FIs) must urgently reimagine their customer journeys or risk facing a hit to their market share. Indeed, today’s customers are more likely than ever to switch primary banking relationships if they do not receive the services they are looking for. Young, digital natives continue to shape this market, with research revealing that 44% of Gen Z customers have changed their primary banking relationship in the last 12 months. The call to competition cannot be ignored.  But how can FIs innovate to meet these demands, while simultaneously running legacy systems? This Finextra impact study, in association with Hyland, explores how financial institutions can:  Reinvent onboarding and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) processes;  Upscale the overall customer journey;  Look to artificial intelligence (AI) for product enhancement and integration; and  Present real-world case studies for each of these objectives. 

343 downloads

Impact Study

NextGen retail banking: A roadmap to successful modernisation

Learn why retail banks must transition to modern, composable, future-ready infrastructures today – and how they can devise journeys that are tailored as well as cost-effective. A significant portion of the retail banking landscape still relies on legacy systems, some of which can be costly and hamper innovation. According to a report from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), 58% of the UK’s financial services firms use legacy infrastructure for some operations, while 33% depend on it for most of their activities. In North America, the picture is similar, with around 40% of US banks still using the Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL) – a coding language dating back to 1959. Some surveys indicate that up to 70% of bank IT budgets are spent on maintaining these legacy systems.   Today, with rapidly evolving consumer demands, technological advancements, stiff competition, and regulatory upheaval, outdated infrastructures are no longer tenable – and risk negatively impacting banks’ efficiency, agility, and customer experiences. So, how can retail banks modernise, while controlling costs and ensuring minimal impact on day-to-day business applications?   This Finextra impact study, produced in association with Oracle, analyses:  The key challenges of legacy banking systems  How to draw up a tailored roadmap for modernisation  How to quantify progress and measure success 

384 downloads

/retail

FinextraTV

What Technological Frictions Exist for Clearing Customers?

Providing insights as part of the new Future of Wealth series, Emma Hagan, UK CEO, ClearBank joins FinextraTV at Money 20/20 in Amsterdam to describe the evolution of the clearing industry across the last decade. Explaining how clearing was later to the digital transformation wave, Hagen lists some of the technological frictions that exists for clearing clients and the solutions that are available.

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Events

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Long reads

Stephanie Storry

Stephanie Storry Consultant at PSE Consulting

How will UK BNPL regulation impact merchants?

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) has quickly become a retail staple in the UK. With consumers increasingly seeking flexible payment options, BNPL services have surged in popularity, promising an easy way to split payments into bite-sized chunks. But with this growth comes a growing wave of regulatory attention around rising default levels and consumer pr...

Sehrish Alikhan

Sehrish Alikhan Reporter at Finextra

Solving modern KYC challenges

In today’s digital age, banking is expected to be seamless, frictionless, and to make it plain and simple: easy. However, with a constantly shifting regulatory landscape, increased demand for hyper-personalisation and desire to be digital – financial institutions have obstacles to overcome to keep up with consumer demand. A pain point in the digit...

Scott Hamilton

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

Why do customers and business leaders diverge on client experience views?

Customers aren’t ‘buying’ companies’ improved customer experience (CX) claims or promises, and company leaders aren’t buying the value of spending more to delight the customer. At least not in large percentages on either side of the commerce spectrum, according to a recent global study. When it comes to the leaders of the companies surveyed, respo...