Google will begin enforcing its updated personalized ads policy tomorrow, Wednesday, February 28.

"Delulu"—slang for delusional—is a popular Gen Z refrain used to describe achieving outcomes through the power of positive thinking. But Gen Zers’ delulu approach isn’t working for their financial lives.

On the podcast we discuss what to expect as banks deploy more AI in 2024. We chat about several use cases for AI, like customer service and chatbots, personalized banking services, fraud detection and prevention, credit scoring and risk assessment, as well as personalized marketing. In “Place Your Bets,” we distribute 10 points to four predictions in order to rank the relative likeliness that each one will come true. We rank the following to see which is most likely to happen in 2024: news stories about overzealous chatbots stops banks from rolling them out, regulators squash attempts to use AI for investment advice, the deployment of AI enables banks to initiate massive layoffs, and small banks and credit unions are able to win more customers because of their deployment of AI for customer service. Listen to the conversation with host Rob Rubin and our analysts Jacob Bourne and Gadjo Sevilla.

GenAI will generate more financial value for banks than any other technology introduced in the last decade. Per a September 2023 McKinsey & Company research, it could hit $200 billion to $340 billion annually through greater productivity.

On today’s episode of The Banking & Payments Show podcast, we discuss the most important banking trends that we expect to see in 2024. We examine the big headlines from our Banking Trends to Watch in 2024 report, such as risky banking as a service partnerships, the social media players pushing the boundaries of banking, the disruption caused by AI and new developments with digital wallets. In a new segment called "Place Your Bets," using a total of 10 points, we allocate points to different trends to predict their likelihood of coming true. Listen to the conversation with guest host Marcus Johnson and our analysts Tiffani Montez and David Morris.

GenAI could generate between $200 billion and $340 billion (9% to 15% of banks’ operating profits) in value annually through greater productivity, per a 2023 McKinsey & Company report. But its potentially disruptive force won’t take hold in 2024.

42.4% of US Gen Z banking consumers would consider their proximity to ATMs as a factor before choosing a new bank, while 28.8% would consider their distance to a branch, according to our survey. By contrast, 39.6% would consider the bank’s reputation.

Winning Gen Zers’ deposits will depend on capturing their attention and trust early in the customer journey. At the discovery and consideration stages, Gen Zers’ habits are very different than those of other generations, per our inaugural survey of 1,488 US banking consumers. That means banks must rethink their marketing strategies to best appeal to this generation’s preferences.

YouTube is the top social media platform that US Gen Z consumers turn to for banking information, per our survey.

This Banking & Payments Show episode explores new cash-back credit card features and their appeal. We discuss a CNBC article on merchant rewards, highlight a feature 58% of consumers find extremely valuable, and debate the merits of these features versus more cash-back rewards.

US digital-only account openings will remain flat at just 200,000 every year from 2024 through to 2027, according to our forecast. Traditional account openings, however, will hover at 5.0 million and above during the same period.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss how finserv digital marketers are incorporating credit marketing, even in top- and mid-funnel campaigns. • In our “Headlines” segment, we chat about the role of marketing as a revenue generator in banking—specifically, an article we published in August with results from an American Banker Association survey that stated 72% of marketing execs don't believe revenue generation is a part of marketing’s role. • In “Story by Numbers,” we examine the results of digital campaigns that revolve around credit marketing and the ROI in creating a unified, full-funnel marketing strategy. • In “Pretend CMO,” our guests have to thread together a multifaceted digital-only marketing campaign and discuss how it attributes ROI to the campaign's different digital channels. Tune in to the discussion with host Rob Rubin, our analyst Tiffani Montez, and Aundra Thompson, director of product strategy and strategic planning for marketing solutions at TransUnion.

Embedded life insurance opens new distribution channels to get basic offerings in front of consumers—and at contextually relevant moments when they’re more likely to buy. To maximize this opportunity, insurers must move fast and partner with brands that are trusted, well recognized, and digitally mature.