The strategy: Financial institutions (FIs) are embedding themselves earlier in customers’ decision-making journeys through partnerships and proactive engagement. The following examples highlight some innovative ways they’re doing this:

• NatWest launched a ChatGPT integration that lets users explore borrowing power, affordability, and personalized mortgage rates. The bank embeds itself in the earliest stage of the homebuying journey: when consumers are still researching. Instead of waiting for customers to visit its site, NatWest meets them inside an AI platform where initial decisions are increasingly made, positioning itself to shape preferences and capture demand before competitors enter the consideration set.
• Amplify Credit Union embeds itself in the workplace, offering financial education as an employee benefit through its Collab program, per Austin Business Journal. Amplify provides financial education tools and licensed counselors to all employees regardless of whether they bank with the credit union. This allows Amplify to build trust and relationships early, positioning itself as a go-to financial partner before consumers actively seek out banking products—turning employers into a powerful channel for customer acquisition.

Fintechs are also using this strategy. For example:

• Cash App is targeting the earliest possible entry point: childhood. With the launch of parent-controlled accounts for kids as young as 6, the company is embedding itself in consumers’ financial lives well before traditional banking relationships begin. 
• Block is partnering with the Bronx Museum to engage teens, per the fintech’s website. By supporting various programs that provide real-world learning experiences and exposure to earning, creativity, and independence, Block positions itself alongside young consumers as they begin shaping their financial behaviors. While not a direct acquisition channel, this kind of early, community-based engagement helps build familiarity and trust—creating a foundation for future adoption of tools and services.

Recommendations for banks: To compete in this environment, banks need to rethink how and when they reach customers—not just what they offer. Rather than relying on owned channels and traditional acquisition tactics, FIs should identify where financial decisions begin and embed themselves there through strategic alliances. 

That means thinking beyond banking ecosystems and tapping into adjacent networks where trust already exists. 

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