Banking has had a product mindset problem, but it might be starting to get better
- The product mindset gap comes down to whether banks build around internal structures or the problems customers are trying to solve.
- AI is pushing product thinking further, challenging banks to move beyond features and interfaces toward responsive products that understand context and help customers get things done.
The “Letter from the Editor” is a biweekly series of exclusive insight and opinion-driven analysis from Tearsheet’s Managing Editor Sara Khairi, connecting ideas, questioning assumptions, and tracking shifts across both mature and emerging trends in financial services.
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Issue # 16
This year, Zack Miller has taken on another job at Tearsheet; he’s now a product person. He’s still our Editor-in-Chief and co-founder. But we’ve been spending more time thinking about our own approach to product, as well as how banks think about and build products. The latter involves discussions about how digital banking experiences are built, how teams decide what to improve, and what happens after a feature launches.
This feels increasingly important today as products outgrow their identity as a single feature and become a reflection of how a company’s systems, decisions, data, and teams work together. The realization that a product can’t be treated as a project with a start and end date is also deepening. It has to keep learning from customer behavior, adapt to changing needs, and become more useful over time.
Earlier this year, Tearsheet’s Miller discussed the need for banks to adopt a product mindset with Anthony Ianniciello of Q2 and Trisha Price of Pendo on the Tearsheet Podcast. Many financial institutions, they argued, still manage digital experiences as IT projects rather than products built around customer behavior and outcomes. And it warrants some change.
The meaning and importance of product have expanded
Customers want banking products or features to get a task done. For instance, a small business owner wants to know which invoices have been paid, which bills are due, and whether there’s enough cash to make payroll. A consumer doesn’t necessarily want another fraud alert. They want to know whether something is wrong and what they should do about it.
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