4 Ways Banking Will Change in 2025
Written by
Nicole Spector
Edited by
Laura Bogart
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In order to keep up with consumer needs, banks need to evolve pretty quickly and be ready to adapt to the future. But revamping or launching a new service or product is not something that a bank can make happen overnight. Financial institutions, particularly massive ones, need time, strategy and a budget. Maybe this is why, to date, no bank has precisely nailed the consumer experience. They don’t perfectly meet our rapidly expanding expectations.
But that could all change in 2025. Banks could make outstanding progress. GOBankingRates consulted with experts at Alkami to garner the following insights into the four ways banking could change in 2025.
Deep Diving Further Into the Possibilities of AI
We’ve already seen banks exploring the possibilities and fresh opportunities AI delivers. We can expect banks to get more serious with their investments here.
“2025 will be about further defining the role of AI in financial services,” said Deep Varma, CTO at Alkami. “According to research my company conducted, today, RCFIs are seeing benefits from AI through operational efficiency and cost reduction, customer experience and personalization, risk management and fraud detection, and regulatory compliance. AI is proving to be a catalyst for uncovering new business opportunities, with optimism growing around AI’s future in banking and digital banking.”
Getting More Aggressive About Fraud (Including Check Fraud)
You may be surprised to learn that even though checks are becoming less common every year, they’re not even close to going extinct. And banks are still seeing check fraud as a mighty menace in the banking space.
“Despite seeming outdated, check fraud has emerged as a significant threat that is likely to persist in 2025, with high-profile incidents highlighting the need for financial institutions to stay vigilant,” said Brad Cranford, director of product management at Alkami. “Fraudsters are constantly finding new ways to exploit vulnerabilities, especially through traditional checks, which lack the security of digital banking and digital payment methods.”
Banks’ key weapon against fraud is to adopt a multilayered approach to prevent it.
Banks can prevent it by “combining tools like Payee Positive Pay, teller validation of on-us checks and real-time transaction monitoring,” Cranford said. “Equipping staff and account holders with knowledge on fraud prevention, along with strategic technology investments, will be critical to safeguarding account holders and reinforcing trust in an increasingly challenging landscape.”
Speeding Up Transactions
One thing about banks that really peeves customers is the time they have to wait to complete a transaction. If you make a transfer from an external bank to an internal account or vice versa, you could be forced to wait days for the transaction to complete. Banks are working to improve in this department.
“Banks and credit unions must prioritize engaging with faster payments now, as transaction volumes continue to grow rapidly and the future of payments increasingly revolves around these systems,” said Jeff Bucher, senior product strategy manager at Alkami. “Getting an earlier start will allow financial institutions to build expertise in faster payments, avoiding the need to play catch-up later.”
Enhanced Data Technology
Tied into the benefits of AI is its potential to serve as a North Star for data aggregation that can inform its personalized content for customers.
“In 2025, AI is poised to bring marketers closer to achieving the holy grail of intercepting customers at the exact moment of need with hyper-targeted, personalized content,” said Allison Cerra, CMO at Alkami. “Financial marketers, for instance, will see advancements that allow account holders to receive even more precisely tailored offers through digital banking channels, delivered in real time.”
Cerra shared that though banks have already been progressing in this area, they still haven’t mastered the technology.
“While technology stacks have enabled ever-greater personalization, most campaigns still rely on trickle-based, one-to-many messaging,” Cerra said. AI, if it meets expectations, would change this significantly.
“The combination of predictive and generative AI can create a future of marketing where both the offer and the asset are dynamically created and delivered just when customers need them, regardless of where the interaction occurs,” Cerra said. “This is because predictive AI can provide marketers with the insight on what message will most resonate with a particular account holder, while generative AI can create the content to convey the offer.”
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