10-Q, Member Exclusive

The changing tides in the Gen Z-traditional FI relationship

  • With the rise of new-age, youth-centric non-bank financial firms, traditional banks might find themselves at the end of the line in the eyes of Gen Z.
  • Some banks are now stepping out of their comfort zones to adapt and stay competitive with the largest generation, who are currently their customers and also the talent of tomorrow.
close

Email a Friend

    Legacy banks are stepping out of their comfort zones to co-exist with non-banks and win over Gen Z

    Lit, sick, gucciย โ€” how do traditional banks measure up in Gen Z lingo? Likely, they’re not even a contender among these words that scream cool and trendy. With the rise of new-age, youth-centric non-bank financial firms, traditional banks might find themselves at the end of the line.

    Itโ€™s not that banks are oblivious, but their longstanding focus on security, slow-moving steps, regulations, and compliance tends to saddle them with a serious andย boring image in the eyes of Gen Z.

    Banks are now implementing tangible actions to adapt and stay competitive with the largest generation, who are currently their customers and also the talent of tomorrow.ย Growth begins where comfort ends — keeping this in mind, banks are overhauling their strategies related to employment, internal policies, and marketing. However, when it comes to products and services, some are opting for strategic partnerships.ย 

    We explore each of these areas to see how some banks are approaching things differently, and, in a few cases, even diverge from the norm and conventional routes.

    1. The most unusual fusion of traditional banks and TikTok


    subscription wall for TS Pro

    0 comments on “The changing tides in the Gen Z-traditional FI relationship”

    Member Exclusive, New banks, Policies & Playbooks

    Fintechs want to become banks. Bunq just found out what the OCC expects in return.

    • For fintechs seeking U.S. bank charters, the OCC is asking: Do the management, capital, risk, and compliance infrastructure hold up? And is the institution ready to operate as a bank, not just alongside one?
    • The OCC may be widening the path to a charter, but itโ€™s also raising the bar for proving readiness.
    Sara Khairi | August 12, 2026
    10-Q, Member Exclusive

    Forget the earnings. Watch where these fintechs are placing their bets.

    • Chime, Block, and Circle each used the quarter to make the case for where fintechโ€™s next moat will be built.
    • Chime is finding a lending advantage in the direct-deposit relationship, Block is rebuilding around AI, and Circle is betting that the bigger opportunity lies in owning the infrastructure beneath stablecoins.
    Sara Khairi | August 10, 2026
    Member Exclusive, Opinion

    Have we mistaken ChatGPT-like LLMs and AI agents for the whole transformation?

    • The industry is increasingly asking: What needs to surround AI before we can trust it?
    • AI needs four things to work well in financial services: data, context, governance, and human oversight. The first two sharpen its intelligence; the latter two make it trustworthy.
    Sara Khairi | August 07, 2026
    Banking, Member Exclusive

    How banks have stopped thinking in products and started thinking in customer journeys

    • As banks weave AI into their customer experiences, many are looking for ways to translate years of customer data into a more complete picture of each customer's needs and context.
    • The difference isn't the data itself, but how well a bank makes sense of a customer's context and goals and builds the right response around that.
    Sara Khairi | August 06, 2026
    Artificial Intelligence, Banking, Data, Member Exclusive

    Before chasing AI, Bank of America wants banks to fix their data first

    • Bank of America has resisted the urge to use AI as a shortcut to efficiency, a temptation that has driven many companies into expensive and poorly conceived AI investments.
    • EricaAssist offers the clearest example of Bank of America's data-first AI strategy, with the bank recently enhancing the employee assistant by integrating Gen AI capabilities.
    Javarya Kamran | August 06, 2026
    More Articles