The competitive playing field for banks is evolving quickly, introducing agile new competitors and challenging traditional formulas for success. Customers, not products or business lines, are the center point of strategies and business models today. The ability to leverage large volumes of data and new technologies to understand customers’ journeys and deliver personalized offers and experiences is now considered critical to driving loyalty, engagement and, ultimately, growth.

Backed by insights from global surveys of customers and bank C-level executives, the 2022 World Retail Banking Report lays out these challenges and offers a path forward for industry strategists. Key takeaways include: • Customers today expect banks to provide personalized experiences that are fun, engaging and consistent across all channels, physical and digital. Banks have the data to deliver, but often fall short compared to FinTech and Big Tech competitors. They need to invest more in systems, governance and AI/ML technologies to gain insights that can help them create stronger connections and maximize customer value.

• Embedding finance in customers’ ecosystem journeys has emerged as a key avenue for growth, but also poses unique challenges. Platform-based business models require that banks think about issues they have never before considered, such as how to maintain exclusivity and avoid brand dilution or how to bundle financial and nonfinancial offerings in ways that are good for both customers and the institution. Platforms offer the potential for new revenue, but also require new metrics to gauge success.

• Chief marketing officers (CMOs) are playing a pivotal role in this evolution.

Once managers of mass-market campaigns, many are now chief customer strategists, tasked with orchestrating hyper-personalized, automated customer experiences. It’s a data- and technology-driven ask, requiring CMOs to coordinate with other C-Suite executives to break down data silos and gain usable insights.