Artificial intelligence is changing how financial services brands engage with customers, particularly through personalisation. Many organisations now use AI to deliver more tailored experiences across the entire customer journey, rather than focusing on a single interaction.
Building on this idea, our 2026 CMO Handbook for Financial Services, explores how the fastest-growing brands are applying personalisation responsibly across the entire customer journey.
Effectiveness of personalisation in financial services
Effective personalisation rarely announces itself. It works best when it feels timely, useful and aligned to a customer’s real situation, not driven by internal product pushes or quarterly targets.
At its core, hyper-personalisation is closely linked to moment detection. It is about identifying when intervention genuinely adds value. Showing up at the right time, with the right insight, in a way that serves the customer’s best interest.
Between the rapid evolution of AI and ever-shifting industry conditions, marketing teams are being asked to adapt at a pace never before seen. This means that structure, change management, communication, and support are critical to maintain this pace without spinning out of control. By fostering clear and direct communication within your organisation, you ensure that everyone can navigate changing market conditions.
Personalisation is no longer about reacting. It is about anticipating.
“If we look outside our sector, personalisation has moved on to anticipation. Customers now expect brands to know when not to speak to them as opposed to when to speak to them.”
Jonathan Bowyer, Ex-marketing Director, Lloyd’s Banking Group
Hyper-personalisation in a multi-channel world
Today’s financial services brands operate across an increasingly complex mix of touchpoints – branches, apps, email, contact centres and social platforms.
The temptation is to personalise everywhere. In practice, this rarely works.
What customers truly seek is resolution, delivered appropriately for that specific moment. That resolution must align with a clear purpose that benefits both the customer and the organisation in a sustainable way.
Continuity is critical. When interactions across channels feel disconnected, trust quickly diminishes. According to Bowyer, “the thing that kills trust is when you go to one channel and then move to another and have to answer the same questions all over again.”
Responsible personalisation means designing interconnected experiences, not simply tailoring messages in isolation. Channel strategy must follow customer need, not organisational structure.
| Traditional Personalisation | Hyper-Personalisation (2026) |
|---|---|
| Reactive – based on historical data | Anticipatory – based on predictive AI models |
| Channel-specific silos | Interconnected omni-channel |
| Focus on “legitimate interest” | Focus on “custoemr outcomes” |
Align hyper-personalisation with FCA Consumer Duty Requirements
Regulation is often positioned as a constraint on innovation. Increasingly, that perspective is outdated.
Frameworks such as GDPR and PECR have already reshaped how organisations approach data. More recently, the introduction of Consumer Duty has clarified expectations further, pushing firms towards outcome-based thinking rather than relying loosely on concepts such as legitimate interest.
“Legitimate interest is interesting, but it’s also where a lot of companies could trip up. Consumer Duty helps because it forces an outcome-based approach.”
Jonathan Bowyer, Ex-marketing Director, Lloyd’s Banking Group
In many cases, regulation reinforces good personalisation practice. It encourages organisations to ask whether an interaction genuinely benefits the customer, not simply whether it is technically permissible.
When compliance and customer value are aligned, personalisation becomes more sustainable, defensible and trust-enhancing.
Where the biggest opportunities lie
The organisations that will lead in 2026 are not those speaking most loudly about personalisation, but those embedding it most effectively. “We could end up with a super-personalised agent working on your behalf to get you the best products in the market”, says Jonathan Bowyer. Organisations now have a world of new possibilities with the advent of agentic AI.
Human oversight remains critical to ensuring messaging remains on brand, contextually appropriate and aligned with long-term relationship building. Consistency matters as much as the initial interaction. Hyper-personalisation must appear at the right moments, with relevance to the customer’s position in their financial journey.
To learn more about the advice our contributors share with finance marketing leaders, download the 2026 CMO handbook here.
About the Author
Ruben is a digital marketing consultant at AccuraCast, in charge of developing and executing effective digital marketing strategies. His specialities include digital strategy, paid media and programmatic for financial services brands.
