September 29, 2026

Designing Digital Banking for Every Generation: Key Takeaways from MoneyLive North America

By Dan Crowley, VP, Corporate Development at Personetics 

I recently attended MoneyLive North America in Chicago, where I had the privilege of sharing the stage with Emily Gessner, SVP, Head of Commercial Digital at KeyBank. Our session, titled Designing Digital Banking for Every Generation: How KeyBank is Turning Client Insights into Measurable Business Impact, addressed one of the most prominent issues facing financial leaders today. How do traditional banks deliver personalized and actionable digital insights without losing the trusted customer relationships that set them apart? 

With the rise of specialized, budgeting-focused fintechs and digital-native solutions, customer expectations are shifting. However, traditional institutions possess structural advantages that fintechs cannot replicate overnight. I heard this topic repeated in various contexts throughout the conference’s conversations and presentations. During our discussion, Emily and I explored how banks can activate their core strengths, tailor digital experiences across generations and segments, and turn transactional intelligence into bottom-line business growth. 

Navigating Digital Era Customer Engagement 

Digital-native platforms have raised the bar for user experience across every industry, including retail banking. Financial institutions are finding that static promotional campaigns no longer cut it; they need to move toward contextual action. Banking relationships are fragmenting as consumers spread their money across multiple banks and wealth shifts across generations, while AI agents compete to become the primary platform. Banks now compete on intelligence, relevance, guidance, and action. 

The need for banks to adapt is highlighted by market data. Today, 73% of bank customers utilize multiple financial institutions beyond their primary bank, and 58% of consumers purchased at least one financial product from a new provider over the past year. The risk of attrition is very real, with 18% of retail banking customers reporting they are likely to switch banks within the next 12 months. Further, 84% of consumers would consider changing banks specifically to receive personalized financial services. 

Despite these market pressures, traditional banks retain three powerful assets. They have a trusted distribution built on primary account relationships and regulated standing, customer data containing rich transactional and cash-flow signals, and the regulatory trust to securely act on the customer’s behalf.  Success in this new age will come from deploying technology that connects these assets into proactive digital experiences. 

Connecting Insights to Action through Cognitive Banking 

At Personetics, our Cognitive Banking platform continuously analyzes transactional data across each customer’s financial life to convert complex transaction flows into meaningful guidance embedded directly within the digital banking experience. By delivering contextual recommendations, such as direct deposit setups and proactive cash flow alerts, banks bridge the gap between financial insights and customer action. 

This approach yields win-win outcomes for both institutions and their customers. Contextual digital callouts deliver conversion rates two to three times higher than generic offers. Across deployed Personetics implementations, banks maintain an average 4.6/5 customer rating for their digital financial guidance. 

Tailoring Experiences Across Client Segments 

A core focus of our presentation was KeyBank’s strategy to meet the unique needs of distinct client segments through intentional digital design. Research revealed that while 90% of consumer clients engage with the bank through mobile channels first, and 60% of small business clients prefer a desktop-first experience. To effectively serve both audiences, KeyBank adopted a differentiated research and design approach, optimizing digital features across both mobile and web platforms. 

KeyBank enhanced raw transaction logs by replacing confusing numeric codes with merchant names, clean logos, location data, and contact details. Key enhancements rolled out across platforms include inline user descriptions that allow users to add custom notes directly to transaction records, and automated check image displays that appear immediately when a check transaction is opened, eliminating unnecessary extra taps.  

KeyBank also refined the user experience by resizing merchant icons and adjusting spacing to provide more room for complete transaction descriptions. These enhancements delivered immediate results, increasing overall app engagement and Transaction Detail views while contributing to a directional decline in routine transaction-related calls to support centers. 

Delivering Proactive Guidance at Scale 

Looking ahead, KeyBank is expanding its digital capabilities by rolling out its AI-driven Engage Portal. Designed to surface spending patterns and forecast cash flow, the Engage Portal guides clients through personalized financial management tools: 

• Goal Setting & Budgeting: Tools that empower clients to set financial targets and visually track their progress. 

• Subscription Management: Centralized tracking that enables users to identify and cancel unwanted recurring subscription payments. 

• Dynamic Personalization: Real-time recommendations that flag unusual expenditures, suggest budget adjustments, and alert users to large upcoming automatic payments. 

KeyBank’s future product roadmap includes enabling clients to aggregate external accounts into a single view and feeding proactive intelligence directly into conversational AI agents and banker-facing CRM platforms. 

Scaling Innovation Through Agile Execution 

At the heart of KeyBank’s digital transformation is a disciplined approach to innovation. The bank focuses on turning customer insights into action, validating new capabilities through small-scale pilots before broader deployment, and using client data to continually refine the digital experience. This approach enables KeyBank to move quickly while ensuring investments remain aligned with customer needs and behaviors. 

While the banking industry is generally slow to adapt digitally, Emily and I have witnessed a trend that was reinforced by the conversations and interest we saw at MoneyLive. By combining deep transactional intelligence with agile execution, traditional banks can protect their core customer relationships, outpace fintech competitors, and deliver measurable business outcomes across every generation of clients.