On this episode of Brand Anatomy, Briefing director Jeremy Goldman sits down with Ashley Ross, Bank of America’s head of customer experience (CX). Hear how the bank pivoted its service model during the pandemic, leveraged technology and personalization to better serve its customers, improved the ROI of CX—and how customer feedback helped Bank of America build a stronger brand.

The bank will combine all of its product lines into one app to boost digital engagement.

Both companies are letting customers pay for purchases directly from their bank accounts, which might help limit interchange costs for merchants.

Neobank and Big Tech competition, rising mobile adoption, and new touchpoints like the metaverse are pushing banks to rethink their branch footprints. They must react to evolving consumer banking preferences so they can future-proof their branches.

In 2022, US consumers will collectively open 13.1 million new bank accounts via digital channels, per our estimates. We stack up the mobile account opening experiences of the 10 largest US banks (by domestic asset size) and the four largest US neobanks (by users) based on our analysis of 35 emerging features.

Mobile apps comprised 29% of consumers’ P2P payments in 2021, compared with 11% pre-pandemic, per the Federal Reserve’s 2022 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice. At Bank of America alone, outgoing Zelle transactions (140 million) exceeded checks written (120 million) in Q1 2022. WHAT’S NEXT: P2P providers will angle to pull more transactions onto their platforms.

The super app model is moving to the West and will upend how consumers interact with financial services. Banks must start preparing now to make the changing tide work to their advantage.

Increasing digitization among the 32 million US small businesses is changing the competitive landscape and forcing banks, acquirers, and fintechs to invest in next-generation features. These features range from payments and value-added services to outreach.

Bank of America built the assistant as part of a three-year project that is estimated to have cost $30 million. Equipping Advisors with Deep Client Insights. Wealth managers can provide advisors with insights to engage customers on topics tailored to their unique financial profile.

Chatbots on the rise: Digital banking has shifted interactions from in-person at branches to online, leading banks to re-envision their communication with customers. One widely adopted medium is chatbots. As of early 2020, 13% of banks and credit unions had a chatbot, and another 16% were planning to introduce one in 2021, according to Cornerstone Advisors.

Ranks of new customers are dwindling, jeopardizing US robo-advisors' ability to attract new wealth. This report details how robo-advisors can expand into new products and services to boost customer acquisition and revenues.

Despite their extensive climate commitments, banks invested $742B in fossil fuel companies during 2021.

The Bank of America Premium Rewards card performed strongly. This card uniquely offered two complementary digital couponing features and was the only card to offer three of the four most in-demand features. Runner-up Citi Premier was the only one to offer free two-day shipping.

Runner-up Bank of America also offered three features, including an aggregation tool that Chase didn’t have. To stand out, FIs should focus on spending oversight and savings automation. Seeing a list of recurring charges. Customers can struggle to keep a budget when they lack a comprehensive view of upcoming charges.

The city council approved creating a financial entity that will lend to underserved businesses. If this focus holds, competition with existing banks should be limited.

It’s axed overdraft fees and charges for overdraft-protection services—as the number of big US players maintaining the old normal keeps dwindling.

BofA sees success with digital mortgages: Its Digital Mortgage Experience product handled the vast majority of initiations in 2021—up from 45% the year before—and garnered several mortgage UX accolades.