Why banks will be ‘invisible’ by 2030

They either become the platform or willingly lose their brand visibility.

Banks will be ‘invisible’ by 2030 with customers engaging directly with their platforms less frequently but more meaningfully, said Forrester.

Banks are expected to increasingly embed their services in customers’ point of need— even in distribution channels they do not own— in order to become part of an ecosystem. This will result in fewer direct interactions in banks’ own apps, which they should prepare for, Forrester said.

“The bank will own the service and product, but not always the distribution channel,” Forrester analysts said in its October 2024 report, “The Future of Banking Is Built On Trust.”

“Acting on this information requires brands to use real-time context or insights to choose the right consumers, touchpoints, content/services, or triggers quickly, resulting in less engagement on bank-owned web or app properties,” the report said.

They may pivot their platforms into one of three options: either they become the platform and rails that other firms run upon, compete with tech titans for customer primacy or engagement, or do both.

“Banks must stop seeing partnerships as a threat, and as one executive told us, ’be willing to give up their brand for somebody else’s curated engagement environment’,” Forrester added.

For example, DBS’s online marketplace offers customers access to a range of products and services related to car, health, home, and travel. 

Similarly, banks such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are already powering products for Apple and Amazon.

But as they become more invisible, a new challenge emerges: how to drive customer loyalty in their retail brands.

The key is to be selective on which products to embed and distribute via multiple channels, according to Forrester.

They can also go the DBS route and be the platform themselves.

“Designing to support integration with other platforms and brands will require a step change in collaboration, an outside-in cultural mindset that at one extreme will see banks position themselves as an environment for firms to collaborate through,” Forrester said.

Overall, Forrester anticipates that banking will be invisible, connected, insights driven, and purposeful by 2030.

“Leading banks will use technology and far deeper customer insights to insert financial services at the customer’s moment of need, potentially at the expense of brand visibility,” Forrester said.

Consumers will also prefer banks that align with their environmental and social values, it added.