Top trends and priorities focus on growth, cost optimisation and the customer experience

We met with 136 retail banking executives to understand their top priorities and how they are preparing for and adapting to key trends shaping their organisations. This year, executives are prioritising:

  • Profitability and business growth
  • Business optimisation
  • Improved customer experience
Business woman reading a device

Retail banks seek to curb spending more than other banking sectors

46%
plan to sustain or increase their OpEx budgets
43%
plan to sustain or increase their CapEx budgets
72%
on average are accelerating application modernisation

Digital and AI are shaping the business

 

  • Technology and digital acceleration remains the top macro trend
    82% say technology and digital acceleration is the most impactful trend (-4pp YoY)
  • Retail banks exceed other industries in producing digital results
    58% are producing results from their digital strategies (vs 34% for all industries)
  • Traditional AI usage is up, and most retail banks are exploring GenAI
    35% have implemented or are implementing traditional AI, with 86% exploring GenAI

 

Female retailer using a device

What digital leaders do to accelerate results

Organisations generating expected results from their digitisation strategies—the digital leaders—share common attributes that enable them to accelerate outcomes compared to others.* For example, in retail banking, digital leaders:

eye with connectors icon

Extend digital strategies to their external ecosystem

+15pp

vs. others*

Retail banking digital attribute 2

Cite legacy systems as a significant challenge

-20pp

vs. others*

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Produce results from data privacy and protection strategies

+50pp

vs. others*

* those building or launching digitisation strategies
pp = percentage points

Recommendations for driving innovation and growth

1

Modernise retail banking legacy infrastructure to improve agility and reduce costs.

2

Drive retail banking innovation and agility to adapt to new opportunities quickly.

3

Become more data-driven, harness AI and generate insights to improve retail banking efficiency and customer outcomes.

4

Accelerate digitisation and personalisation to improve customer acquisition and retention customer retention in retail banking.

5

Secure your retail banking data and infrastructures to maximise resiliency and trust.

6

Bake-in ESG data enablement and reporting to track and prove sustainability targets.
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At CGI, we help retail banks advance their digital transformation to improve the customer experience, optimise operations, and drive revenue growth. Learn more about:

 

Digital transformation Artificial intelligence  Cyber security

 

 

Client stories and thought leadership