Banking and Connected Services: New Customer Expectations

A figure cuts short any hesitation: one in two customers has already slammed the door on their bank, disappointed by a digital experience that did not keep pace with their needs. In five years, 18-25 year-olds have doubled their use of banking apps, rewriting the way we check, use, and monitor our accounts daily.

Major brands, attached to their habits, see their satisfaction eroding on traditional channels, while new players bet everything on speed and customization. The gap widens: expectations evolve faster than responses, and the loyalty of the most connected customers wavers.

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Banks and Digitalization: How Customer Usage and Expectations Are Transforming

The banking landscape is undergoing an accelerated transformation driven by digitalization. Now, 84% of customers own a smartphone, and this reality changes everything: everyone expects to access their accounts, perform transactions, and receive alerts at any hour, without a hitch. Mobile applications have become the nerve center of the banking relationship.

Here are the main services that customers expect from a banking app today:

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  • Immediate access to their accounts, management of everyday transactions, and real-time alerts.

This evolution redefines the very notion of banking proximity. Gone is the figure of the physical advisor as the sole anchor point: the relationship is reinvented through screens.

Expectations go further. Personalization is essential: each customer seeks tailored advice, meaningful notifications, and an analysis of their situation that is unlike any other. For example, the platform Cadessavoies, designed for Crédit Agricole customers, illustrates this desire to innovate and rethink the customer relationship in the digital age.

The rise of artificial intelligence, blockchain, and biometric tools pursues a dual objective: to offer more autonomy and ensure security. These two pillars are now inseparable in the trust placed in banks.

The customer journey diversifies and combines multiple channels:

  • Institutions combine digital and human presence, following a resolutely phygital approach.

Seniors, often cautious about new things, are gradually being convinced by online services. Meanwhile, younger customers favor contactless payment, autonomous management, and the freedom to manage their finances with a click. The acceleration of digitalization, particularly due to the health crisis, forces banks to continuously renew their services to stay competitive, or risk becoming mere bystanders in a rapidly changing market.

Professional man using a futuristic ATM in front of a bank

Generation Z, Ultra-Connected and Demanding: What Responses for a Banking Experience That Meets Their Expectations?

Generation Z does not do things by halves. They have grown up with digital technology, and that changes everything. For them, banking must be accessible everywhere, all the time, without the slightest friction. Nearly 90% of those under 35 have installed their bank’s app on their smartphone: it has become their main entry point into the banking relationship. For this generation, tolerating a complicated process or an outdated interface is impossible.

Their demands are precise:

  • An intuitive interface, truly personalized advice, intelligent notifications, nothing is left to chance.

The speed of customer service is no longer an advantage: it is the baseline. Managing finances, making payments, investing, chatting with an advisor or a chatbot… everything must be possible in one space, without interruption.

To better understand their expectations, here’s what matters to them:

  • Continuous accessibility: no time barriers are tolerated.
  • Advanced personalization: every interaction must reflect their reality, their choices, their evolution.
  • Security and confidentiality: trust relies on the robustness of systems and impeccable transparency.
  • Societal engagement: environmental and social dimensions (CSR) weigh in their decisions.

Faced with this generation, banks have no choice: they must offer seamless experiences, without hitches, that blend digital autonomy and human support, following a truly phygital model. Initiatives are multiplying: collaborative platforms among customers, integration of energy transition, highlighting ESG criteria. A new way to build trust and proximity, without ever sacrificing the speed and agility expected by young adults.

The banking landscape is being redrawn before our eyes. Customer experience is becoming the key battleground: those who do not listen, who do not innovate, will be left behind. The next revolution? It could well come from a simple gesture on a screen, or from a conscious choice between commitment and demand.

Banking and Connected Services: New Customer Expectations