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

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Bo Harald

Bo Harald Chairman/Founding member, board member at Trust Infra for Real Time Economy Prgrm & MyData,

Credit risks and costs – and how the tide may be turning

1

Alex Kreger

Alex Kreger Founder and CEO at UXDA Financial UX Design

From Inside-Out to Outside-In: Why UX Now Underpins Future Banking

12

Bo Harald

Bo Harald Chairman/Founding member, board member at Trust Infra for Real Time Economy Prgrm & MyData,

Sparkassen showing the way for wallets in e-banking

1

Konstantin Dubovitskiy

Konstantin Dubovitskiy Sr. Account Executive at Checkbook.io

The US interbank payments ecosystem

[Webinar] Growing Pains: Evolving Core Banking for an Age of AIFinextra Promoted[Webinar] Growing Pains: Evolving Core Banking for an Age of AI

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Expert opinions

Bo Harald

Bo Harald Chairman/Founding member, board member at Trust Infra for Real Time Economy Prgrm & MyData,

Credit risks and costs – and how the tide may be turning

Travelling offers time to read — and Buttonwood’s Into Thin Air column in The Economist, reflecting on receivables risks and fraud - reminded me of questions I have asked for decades. It all started when I was a young banker listening to a Helsinki taxi owner complain that my bank offered him a more expensive car loan than the car dealer. As i

/regulation /retail Financial Supply Chain

Alex Kreger

Alex Kreger Founder and CEO at UXDA Financial UX Design

From Inside-Out to Outside-In: Why UX Now Underpins Future Banking

In the past, banks built themselves from the inside out—and for decades, it worked. Products were developed around a sturdy core banking system and rigid business process to ensure security and trust, distributed through branch networks, and only then wrapped in a customer experience and brand veneer. But those days are over because customers and ...

/retail /markets Innovation in Financial Services

Bo Harald

Bo Harald Chairman/Founding member, board member at Trust Infra for Real Time Economy Prgrm & MyData,

Sparkassen showing the way for wallets in e-banking

This is the interoperable EUDIW. EUBWs for SMEs should follow soonest. Lissi wrote: "The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe has officially announced its plan to become a provider of a certified EUDI Wallet, integrating it directly into their main banking app. This is a huge step forward and a powerful signal for the entire market. As the first major Ger...

/retail /identity Innovation in Financial Services

Konstantin Dubovitskiy

Konstantin Dubovitskiy Sr. Account Executive at Checkbook.io

The US interbank payments ecosystem

Interbank payments ecosystem is extremely complex and involves a lot of moving parts that most of us (even those in payments), never encounter. By the end of this article you will better understand how banks communicate with one another, what do those communication channel look like and how do funds get settled depending on the channel. Definitions...

/payments /retail Banking

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

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Trending

Bo Harald

Bo Harald Chairman/Founding member, board member at Trust Infra for Real Time Economy Prgrm & MyData,

The Stockmarket is not the economy

Bo Harald

Bo Harald Chairman/Founding member, board member at Trust Infra for Real Time Economy Prgrm & MyData,

Credit risks and costs – and how the tide may be turning

Alex Kreger

Alex Kreger Founder and CEO at UXDA Financial UX Design

From Inside-Out to Outside-In: Why UX Now Underpins Future Banking

/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. 

315 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. 

345 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

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FinextraTV

AI Innovation: Balancing Trust, Agility and Speed in Banking.

In this FinextraTV interview, Ian Watterson, SVP Go-To-Market at CSG, shares how banks can bring AI innovation into everyday operations without losing customer trust. He explores the paradox of moving fast while staying agile—and why getting it right is critical for both corporate and retail banking.

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Events

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Long reads

Hamish Monk

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

How can banks improve their onboarding processes?

In a report published by UK Finance in January 2025, the trade association stated that in an “increasingly competitive and congested financial services industry, with legacy banks and fintechs going head to head, improving the customer onboarding experience is key for those serious about growth.” Onboarding is the process by which financial insti...

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...