The 2025 Retail Banking Trends and Priorities Report reveals an industry in transition. While 51% of institutions are actively implementing digital transformation efforts, 22% struggle with implementation or have halted their efforts. Key priorities focus on improving digital experiences (52%) and enhancing data capabilities (33%), while AI adoption is slowly expanding beyond security into customer service and process automation.

Most interestingly, despite the continued focus on improving digital delivery, organizations, especially credit unions, are still building new branches.

My guest on Banking Transformed, Mark Sievewright, Chief Strategy Officer for SRM, shares his perspective on where banks and credit unions focus their efforts and whether some of their investments may be misguided. He also discusses how the findings challenge conventional wisdom about digital transformation and highlight the complex balance between innovation and customer expectations.

While banks have successfully implemented GenAI for internal processes and back-office operations, they struggle to achieve meaningful ROI on customer-facing solutions like agent assist and Conversational IVR due to regulatory compliance requirements, data privacy concerns, and model explainability needs. This results in significant hurdles when deploying customer-facing applications.

In this episode of Banking Transformed, we're joined by Manish Gupta, CEO of Corridor Platforms, and Toby Brown, Managing Director of Global Retail Banking Solutions at Google Cloud, to discuss their groundbreaking partnership and how AI and cloud technologies can transform banking decisioning capabilities, enabling institutions to compete effectively while maintaining regulatory compliance.

Our guests will also share insights on overcoming implementation challenges, managing GenAI risks, and creating sustainable frameworks for long-term success in digital banking.

This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by Corridor Platforms

Financial institutions have made substantial investments in GenAI capabilities, yet face significant challenges in deploying high ROI customer-facing applications such as agent assist and Conversational IVR solutions. As banks’ Model Risk Management and Compliance teams grapple with novel GenAI risks without regulatory precedents, Corridor’s GenGuardX (GGX) platform emerges as a comprehensive solution designed by industry experts to bridge the gap between innovation and risk management.

For more information: https://ggx.corridorplatforms.com/

Several key data trends are transforming the competitive landscape of banking. First, the emergence of Agentic AI is prompting institutions to reconsider how they organize and use customer data. Second, vendor consolidation is compelling banks to take greater control of their data strategies. Third, the growing sophistication of AI models requires higher-quality data to provide personalized experiences while addressing bias risks.

In this episode of Banking Transformed, Don Permezel, VP of Data & AI at nCino, joins us to explore how banks must evolve beyond mere data collection to unlock true customer value through AI-powered personalization.

The discussion reveals that while many banks excel at data collection and storage, they often fail to turn this data into actionable intelligence that enhances customer value.

This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by nCino

nCino is the leading provider of intelligent, best-in-class banking solutions, focused on streamlining operations for financial institutions. Its Cloud Banking Platform is a single end-to-end platform that can enhance loan origination, customer onboarding, compliance, and portfolio management for banks, credit unions, and lenders. Over 1,850 financial institutions worldwide use the platform to solve business challenges, digitize processes, and enhance the customer experience through speed and convenience.

For more information visit www.ncino.com/en-US

Legacy core systems, often decades old, restrict innovation and limit the ability to offer personalized digital products. Traditional "rip and replace" approaches to modernization are risky, expensive, and time-consuming. Organizations need a solution enabling speed and scale innovation while preserving existing infrastructure investments.

On this episode of the Banking Transformed podcast, Ahon Sarkar, SVP and general manager of Helix at Q2 discusses a revolutionary approach to core banking modernization. By combining Q2's digital banking platform, Helix's cloud-based core, and extensive fintech partnerships, Q2 Fabric enables financial institutions to launch modern digital products without replacing legacy systems.

The conversation explores how this solution helps banks and credit unions compete in today's digital landscape while minimizing risk and maximizing ROI.

Three-quarters of banks report that legacy infrastructure poses significant barriers to implementing new digital solutions. This creates a complex challenge of balancing innovation with addressing budgetary constraints and maintaining operational efficiency.

In this episode of Banking Transformed, Barb Morgan, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Temenos, discusses how financial institutions can navigate this technological crossroads, examining strategies for optimizing tech spending, modernizing infrastructure, and leveraging emerging technologies like generative AI to enhance operational efficiency and customer experience.

We also explore the evolving role of leadership in driving technological change, including the critical balance between innovation and risk management. The conversation further addresses the industry's growing talent challenge – from recruiting tech-savvy professionals to upskilling existing teams.

Financial institutions of all sizes face mounting pressure to compete with tech giants, global banks and nimble fintechs while meeting rising customer expectations for personalized experiences. The key to success lies not in matching their scale, but in leveraging data more effectively through modern core banking systems.

Jeffrey Kendall, Chairman and CEO of Nymbus, is joining me today on the Banking Transformed podcast. We will discuss how data-enabled core banking is transforming financial institutions and enabling them to deliver personalized experiences that rival the largest banks and most nimble fintechs.

We also will explore the intersection of vertical banking strategies, real-time data analytics, and the future of community banking.

Banks and credit unions must innovate faster and deliver flexible, scalable, and differentiated offerings to keep up with account holders' changing expectations. This is best achieved through collaborations with solution providers and fintech organizations that offer customizable digital-first offerings.

On this episode of the Banking Transformed podcast, Deena Otto, COO of Stanford FCU, and Dan Collins, Director of Digital Development at Visions FCU, share how their organizations are revolutionizing their approach to innovation. Rather than building solutions from scratch or undertaking time-consuming custom integrations, these institutions leverage pre-built components and standardized integration frameworks to deploy new solutions rapidly.

Learn how these two credit unions “punch above their fighting weight" by reducing what would typically be year-long development cycles into projects deliverable within three to six months.

The banking industry stands at a pivotal crossroads as we approach 2030. While the past quarter-century was defined by digital transformation, which brought unprecedented efficiency and convenience, it also created an unexpected paradox: the loss of personal connection in banking relationships.

In this episode of Banking Transformed, Michael Abbott, Senior Managing Director and Global Banking Lead at Accenture, discusses how artificial intelligence and emerging technologies will help banks bridge this gap. They will enable them to combine digital efficiency with the personal touch that defined banking's golden era.

We also explore how banks can differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive landscape where technology alone is no longer enough to win customer loyalty.

A strong web presence isn't just an advantage—it's essential for survival and growth. In today's competitive market, a powerful digital footprint can mean the difference between thriving and merely surviving. Understanding how to optimize your digital presence is crucial, whether you want to increase brand awareness, drive customer engagement, or boost conversions.

In this episode of Banking Transformed, we are joined by Anil Aggarwal, the CEO of Milestone. Anil dives deep into the strategies and principles behind building a commanding digital presence. From content creation and audience engagement to measuring success and adapting to changing technologies, he shares the key elements of a successful online strategy.

Anil also shares ways financial institutions of all sizes can go beyond using their website for brand building to creating new business opportunities.

This episode of Banking Transformed Solutions is sponsored by Milestone

Milestone’s Digital Experience platform including SEO-first CMS and Generative AI platform empowers financial businesses to be easily found online, deliver personalized digital experiences, enhance customer engagement, and drive conversions—powered by data insights, personalized content, and generative AI. We enable our clients to lead their industries with technology that drives growth and measurable results and have over 10,000 websites on our platform across multiple verticals. URL: https://www.milestoneinternet.com/

According to recent Q2 research, 74% of people across generations want more personal banking experiences, and 70% trust their financial institutions to create those experiences using data and AI. Yet, many banks and credit unions struggle to deliver the level of personalization consumers expect from their digital experiences.

On this episode of the Banking Transformed podcast, Anthony Ianniciello, VP of Product Management at Q2, and David Sant, Chief Strategy Officer at Cyprus Credit Union, explore how financial institutions can transform commodity banking transactions into differentiated, personalized experiences that build lifetime relationships.

Our guests share insights from both the technology and implementation perspectives, discussing real-world challenges and solutions in building a modern banking relationship strategy.