December 4, 2025

Cognitive Banking, Primacy, and the New AI Playbook for Banks: Insights from Money 20/20

At Money20/20 USA in Las Vegas, our CEO Udi Ziv joined Bethany Shaffer of Banking Dive to talk about Cognitive Banking, Primacy, and Agentic AI—and how they’re reshaping what it means to be a customer’s primary bank. 

The full interview video below offers a sharp look at where retail banking is headed next. Here are a few highlights:

Bringing the Human Banker Back… with AI 

As Udi puts it, “Cognitive Banking is all about our vision of democratizing financial wellness for all people worldwide”. It is “bringing all that human touch back.” 

Instead of waiting for customers to reach out, Cognitive Banking lets the bank act like a trusted advisor—understanding behavior and goals, identifying needs and “predicting their future needs”, then acting with timely, contextual insights and offers. It works, says Udi, “in context, just in time and almost doing the same thing that the banker used to do for all of us, but now doing it digitally.” 

From Reactive Service to Proactive Wellness 

Udi explains that Personetics’ AI is “one step ahead of that customer and saying, we understand there’s an opportunity.” That might mean spotting extra cash in a checking account and nudging someone toward a savings goal, or flagging a likely overdraft before it happens and offering a small bridge until payday. 

“And suddenly, the experience is not of, ‘I’m surprised’, but rather, ‘Here’s a bank that is taking care of me’.” The result is fewer shocks, better decisions, and stronger loyalty. 

Primacy: Competing in a Multi-bank World 

On primacy, Udi notes that “primacy is probably top of mind for all financial institutions around the globe.” Customers now juggle multiple banks and fintech apps, so PrimacyEdge—Personetics’ new module—applies the same Cognitive Banking engine to the primacy challenge. 

By analysing transaction data, the bank can infer where customers hold deposits, loans, or credit cards elsewhere and respond with smart, primacy-aware offers. As Udi summarises it: “The customer wins because they just got a better offer. The bank wins because they want a little piece of primacy.” 

AI, Agentic AI, and What’s Next 

Personetics has, as Udi says, “been using AI for many, many years. It’s not a new trend.” The shift now is toward GenAI and Agentic AI and using them safely inside the bank. 

“We view our responsibility is in embedding AI and GenAI and Agentic AI in everything that the bank is doing with us,” he explains. “In a sense, GenAI or Agentic AI independently, by themselves, are meaningless. They must be embedded within the process of the bank.” 

To see how all of this comes together in practice, watch the Banking Dive interview with Udi Ziv and hear directly from him how leading institutions are using Cognitive Banking and PrimacyEdge to turn data into meaningful financial wellness for their customers.