How Financial Brands Lose Their Identity in the Digital Age

The digital transformation in banking—once hailed as the panacea for accessibility, efficiency, and growth—has inadvertently plunged many into a sea of sameness. The widespread adoption of templated designs and standardized user interfaces has led to a relentless pursuit of functionality over individuality. This shift has cost financial institutions what sets them apart: their brand identity.

For financial brands, the digital age represents both a tremendous opportunity and a critical challenge. The question is no longer just about having a digital presence; it’s about whether that presence authentically reflects the brand’s proposition, values, mission, and unique essence. The rise of generic solutions has created a pressing need for financial institutions to reclaim their individuality.

The Rise of the Generic Financial Experience

As financial institutions rushed to digitize, many fell into the trap of prioritizing speed and cost over differentiation. Off-the-shelf solutions, cookie-cutter interfaces, and a “one-size-fits-all” approach became the norm. While these solutions offered convenience, they came at a steep price: the erosion of brand identity.

Consider the typical user’s experience: A customer downloads a financial app and encounters the same shades of blue, copycat interface patterns, and uninspired layouts they’ve seen a dozen times before in other financial products. 

In their rush to digitalize quickly and cheaply, many financial brands inadvertently deliver experiences that are so generic that their brand ceases to matter. A case in point is the influx of similar-looking banking apps that offer little beyond functionality, leaving no lasting impression on users. It's as if they're all churned out in the same factory.

The Emotional Disconnect

A brand’s identity isn’t just a logo in an app or color scheme; it’s an emotional promise—a reflection of how customers feel when interacting with the brand. However, the rise of impersonal, functional-only digital platforms has stripped away the human touch, ignoring the emotional potential of product design.

For example, legacy financial brands often built trust through face-to-face interactions and personalized services. In the digital space, these emotional anchors are often missing. Instead, users are left with transactional experiences that lack the depth and loyalty once cultivated through personal relationships. The result? Financial brands are becoming forgettable commodities.

Why the “Template Mentality” Fails

The reliance on templated white-label digital solutions is one of the biggest culprits behind this identity crisis. These templates often promise fast implementation and lower costs, but they inherently favor uniformity over uniqueness. Features and interfaces are designed to work for the majority, leaving little room for customization or brand storytelling.

Take the example of a financial brand that adopts a generic app template. While the app may function seamlessly, it offers nothing that reflects the brand’s heritage, vision, and authenticity. Customers are left questioning whether the institution understands their needs or cares about their experience beyond basic functions.

The Cost of Sameness

The loss of identity isn’t just a branding issue; it’s a business problem. Here’s how it manifests:

• Customer Disengagement: When every app looks and feels the same, customers have no emotional connection with a brand. For instance, a competitor’s platform with similar functionality becomes an equally viable choice.

• Eroded Trust: A lack of individuality can make customers question whether a brand truly understands and cares about their needs, especially in a sector where trust is paramount.

• Missed Differentiation Opportunities: Financial institutions fail to communicate what sets them apart—whether it’s their purpose, identity, heritage, innovation, or personalized service.

• Stunted Innovation: Over-reliance on standardized solutions limits creativity and prevents brands from setting new benchmarks in user experience.

How Financial Brands Can Reclaim Their Identity

It’s not too late for financial institutions to reverse course and reclaim their unique identities. Here’s how:

1. Embrace Tailored Design

Generic interfaces won’t cut it. UXDA experience in designing over 150 financial products in 37 countries proves that tailored, brand-specific digital solutions can breathe life into financial platforms. By crafting designs that reflect a brand’s mission, values, and strategy, we could help financial institutions stand out in a crowded market.

For instance, a regional credit union worked with UXDA to redesign its mobile banking app. By incorporating the union’s community-focused ethos, the app featured hyper-localized content, dynamic customer service options, and visually unique elements. The result was an app that didn’t just serve—it delighted.

2. Prioritize Emotional Engagement

Digital doesn’t have to mean impersonal. By weaving in storytelling, personalization, and human-centric design, financial brands can create platforms that resonate emotionally. Features like personalized dashboards, dynamic financial advice, and contextualized experiences create deeper connections.

For example, a next-gen investment platform added storytelling to its app by showcasing customer success stories and offering interactive, goal-based investment tools. These enhancements not only improved user engagement but also strengthened the emotional connection with the brand.

3. Differentiate Through Innovation

Instead of following trends, financial institutions should set them. This means investing in unique features—like ESG banking, contextual financial AI tools or hyper-personalized customer journeys—that reflect their brand’s values and vision.

Consider a challenger bank that integrated gamified savings features into its app, encouraging users to achieve financial milestones with rewards. This approach not only engaged users but also reinforced the brand’s innovative identity.

4. Balance Functionality with Brand Identity

While usability is critical, it shouldn’t eliminate a brand's individuality. Brands need to find the sweet spot where seamless functionality meets authentic brand expression. For instance, integrating subtle visual cues that reflect a brand’s heritage can elevate even the most practical features.

For example, the Value Pyramid framework we invented, defines functionality only as the base level of any product, and above it Usability, Aesthetic, Status, and Mission, which create key differences from competitors and implement the brand strategy in the product.

5. Defragment Customer Experience Across Touchpoints

Financial brands must ensure a seamless and connected experience across all digital and offline touchpoints. This includes unifying the tone, design, and functionality of websites, apps, and in-branch services. A cohesive approach not only reinforces the brand’s identity but also empowers it to deliver bold, memorable interactions.

Unfortunately, very often banking products are created by different teams and create a fragmented and inconsistent customer experience. I often see that one bank's mobile and desktop apps look, feel, and work like products from different banks.

Deliver Your Promise

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, the financial brands that thrive will be those that refuse to conform to the status quo. Reclaiming your brand's identity in the digital age isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s about delivering a promise. It’s about showing customers that your brand isn’t just another financial app but a trusted partner that understands their needs, values their individuality, and delivers on its promises.