October 16, 2026

The Open Banking Expo 2026: Navigating the AI Imperative in Customer Engagement

By Alison Albeck Lindland, CMO, Personetics 

Last week I was in London for the 2026 Open Banking Expo, and honestly, it was brilliant. Two days of great conversations, and a lot of thinking about where open banking is heading. The big takeaway? AI and deep personalisation aren’t optional any more. They’re essential. 

Across the sessions, one theme kept coming up: open banking has moved beyond being just plumbing. It’s now a major driver of customer loyalty. The Main Stage debates on “customer engagement is the new battleground” and “from products to platforms” really hammered that home. Banks are fighting for customers on the quality of their digital experience. And the session on building trust into AI-powered infrastructure highlighted the tricky balancing act: move fast, but don’t drop the ball on security. 

Why sitting on the sidelines is the real risk 

I hosted a peer-led roundtable with a small group of C-level and Heads of folks. The topic was “The threat of AI and why banks can’t afford to sit and watch what happens. They need to innovate, and quickly.” 

Echoing sentiments from the main-stage debates on the shifting platform landscape, the overarching consensus in our room was that while AI presents new complexities, the greater concern is complacency. In an increasingly competitive open banking environment, institutions that observe from the sidelines rather than jumping into risk disintermediation. Banks should pursue AI innovation aggressively yet thoughtfully to elevate their customer engagement strategies and remain relevant. 

Speed matters, but so does getting it right 

Of course, nobody wants to gamble with trust. Banks have spent decades building it, and it’s not something you can afford to lose. So, a big chunk of our discussion was about the risks, the opportunities, and the guardrails you need in place before rolling out AI in customer engagement. Our leaders agreed on one thing: strong, transparent guardrails aren’t a brake on innovation. They’re what make it sustainable. 

To ground our discussion, we drew heavily upon real-world data and thought leadership. We explored the findings from Personetics’ 2026 Global Banker Survey, which provided a data-driven look at how the industry is preparing for this technological shift.  

Together, these resources framed a critical debate about how to harness the immense, transformative power of AI while safeguarding the institutional safety that banks have spent decades building. During our debate, the banking leaders agreed that robust, transparent guardrails are the foundation that makes sustainable, responsible AI innovation possible. 

What we heard on the floor 

The energy at our stand was great across both days. We had loads of good conversations with people figuring out what digital banking looks like next and how they want to rethink their customer relationships. It reinforced what we’re seeing: customers now expect experiences that feel tailored to them, and open banking gives you the data to make that happen. The missing piece is using AI responsibly to turn that data into proactive, genuinely useful experiences for customers. 

If you missed us in London but want to keep the conversation going, get in touch. We’d be happy to share more from our latest global survey and talk through how your institution can use AI safely to grow and deepen customer relationships.