One of the largest U.S. consumer financial services companies, Synchrony, with more than $120 billion in assets, faced a problem that had little to do with the amount of customer data it had and everything to do with what it could do with it.
The company had spent decades building relationships through private-label credit cards, co-branded cards, installment financing, healthcare financing, and savings products. Every application, purchase, and payment added another data point to a customer profile. Yet when customers arrived on Synchrony’s digital channels, much of that knowledge remained disconnected from the experience they were having.
A prospective customer exploring healthcare financing wasn’t necessarily looking for another credit product. The challenge wasn’t understanding who Synchrony’s customers were. It was recognizing what they needed in that moment and translating years of customer data into an experience that reflected their immediate goals.
Since 2020, Synchrony has worked with Dynamic Yield to tackle the problem. At the time, Dynamic Yield was an independent personalization and decisioning platform owned by McDonald’s that helped banks, merchants, and brands use customer data and behavioral signals to personalize digital journeys and optimize customer decisions.
Mastercard acquired Dynamic Yield in 2022 after announcing the acquisition in late 2021. The company saw that the future of payments wasn’t just about processing transactions, but about helping institutions understand customer intent before a payment, delivering the right experience during it, and building a more relevant relationship long after the transaction is complete. Dynamic Yield gave Mastercard a way to advance that broader vision as industry priorities evolved.
Together with Dynamic Yield, Synchrony began combining its customer data with real-time behavioral signals and continuous experimentation to tailor experiences around customer intent.
Six years later, the tech matters less than the problem it was built to solve. As banks layer AI into their customer experiences, many are grappling with the same challenge Synchrony set out to solve: how to turn years of customer data into a deeper understanding of each customer’s context.
Generative AI and open banking are beginning to change how banks engage with customers. Today we will look at this process with Olly Downs. He is a Chief Technology and AI Officer at Curinos. With a career spanning three waves of AI, Downs brings a wealth of experience to the table. He published his first academic paper on what we now call generative AI, back in 1999. “I’ve almost been waiting for the current wave of AI to join us,” Downs reflects. He highlights the long-anticipated arrival of today’s AI capabilities.
AI-driven personalization will change digital banking. Banks are beginning to use it to recreate the personalized touch of traditional banking. Downs explains, “Traditional banking founded itself on personalized, high-engagement relationships. That followed families and businesses throughout their entire life cycle.” Personalizing the online experience is challenging due to the growth of digital channels. Curinos’ technology tackles this by analyzing customer journeys. It identifies the best times and ways to engage customers. This ensures that personalization continues in the digital space. The result is a more effective and tailored customer experience.
Generative AI is not just boosting personalization. It addresses the entire marketing cycle for banks. This shift is redefining how banks approach customer engagement. It’s enabling and testing tailored interactions with numerous ready-to-use marketing creatives. The impact is both profound and widespread. The blend of personalization with open banking is shaping the future of banking.
1. Evolution of AI in Banking Personalization
Downs traces AI’s progress in banking, from Microsoft Research to today’s generative AI. He notes, “We’ve done so much better in understanding language. And the human internalization of concepts.” This progress has deepened our understanding of customer behavior across different communication channels. It provides a clearer picture of how customers interact, enabling banks to create more personalized experiences. Banks nowadays are focusing on data-driven customer lifecycle management.
2. Bridging the Gap Between Traditional and Digital Banking
Modern banks want to replicate the personalized touch of traditional banking online. This is a major challenge in the digital age. “The most satisfied retail banking customers engage with a branch. As well as digital services,” Downs says. This insight highlights the need for a consistent experience across all channels. AI helps unify customer journeys. It offers context for both digital and in-person interactions. Achieving this consistency is crucial for a seamless customer experience.
3. Generative AI: A Game-Changer for Financial Services Marketing
Generative AI addresses the marketing process for banks. Downs reveals, “We’ve been able to stitch in with the help of generative AI… how can we be experimenting live?” This technology allows for real-time learning and adaptation of marketing strategies. It accelerates the creative process and campaign execution.
4. Future of Open Banking and Personalization
Looking ahead, Downs contemplates the convergence of personalization and open banking. He muses, “There’s an opportunity for thinking about… pricing and packaging, both of deposit and lending products that can become very personal.” Yet, he also notes the potential challenges in data consolidation open banking might present, suggesting a need for consumer-driven solutions.
5. Micro-Personalization: The Next Frontier
The conversation touches on the concept of micro-personalization. It means “personalization for an audience of one.” The goal of personalized banking is to integrate both branch and digital services. Downs notes that open banking trends and data privacy issues make this complex. These challenges make personalization more difficult.
The Big Ideas
AI-driven personalization is reviving traditional banking relationships. Downs highlights, “Traditional banking founded itself on personalized, high-engagement relationships.” He explains how AI is enabling banks to maintain this level of personalization. It is doing this across digital channels.
Generative AI will change financial services marketing. Downs reveals, “It’s a massive unlock. It’s a hundred X unlock of the creative process in particular.” This technology allows for continuous experimentation and rapid adaptation of marketing strategies.
The future of banking lies in the convergence of personalization and open banking. Downs predicts a future where banking products are highly personalized, stating, “There’s an opportunity for thinking about… pricing and packaging, both of deposit and lending products that can become very personal.” Yet, he also acknowledges the challenges that it might present in data consolidation.
Customer engagement is key to long-term value. Downs explains, “The key use case has been about engagement and the path to primacy and maximizing quality of customers.”
AI is enabling real-time learning and adaptation. Downs describes how Curinos technology can “generate new recommended creatives”. It does so in that “flow for the marketing team.” This allows for the immediate implementation of insights gained from customer interactions.
