Opening Remarks & How Fintechs Can Partner with Banks to Enhance Customer Experience

The strategic imperative for banks to establish fintech partnerships is essential in driving innovation, speed and cost efficiency, but will also have a significant impact on customer acquisition, retention and engagement, particularly among digital natives. As open banking, real-time payments, embedded finance, artificial intelligence and data-powered personalization, and agentic AI further define the banking landscape and the future of digital finance, banks can rely on fintech partnerships to accelerate digital adoption and enable them to focus on and measure the return on investment in terms of increased customer lifetime value, engagement, and revenue growth. Panelists will discuss how to map out a bank-fintech partnership strategy that includes the following:

- Aligning partnerships with digital channel strategy, including how to integrate fintech offerings—payments, lending, wealth management, for example—into mobile apps, online banking, and omnichannel strategies.

- Personalization and customer experience through data and AI, as well as the use of embedded finance to create contextual offers.

- Building customer loyalty through value-added services provided by fintech partnerships, such as buy now, pay later, financial wellness, robo-advisory and real-time payments.

- Engagement models such as gamification, rewards and community-building powered by fintech tools

- Building trust and security as loyalty drivers by addressing data privacy and fraud concerns.

- How to select and structure the right partnerships, including factors such as alignment on culture, tech stack, customer segments, and compliance readiness.

- Creating the right commercial model (revenue sharing, white-label solutions, co-branding approaches, etc.).

- Governance and performance monitoring, including key performance indicators, service level agreements and joint innovation roadmaps.