Welcoming a New Era of Humanized Digital Banking

Consumers have higher expectations than ever before about the role that financial institutions should take in their lives. Part of that expectation is the need to do more in a simple way — with digital and mobile banking. In fact, 91% of consumers say a good mobile experience is important, according to MX research. 

But, digital experiences don’t mean generic experiences. MX research found that 66% of consumers expect greater levels of personalization than ever before. This isn’t just limited to traditional, in-branch banking experiences. Fifty-one percent of consumers expect greater levels of personalization from their finance-related mobile apps than what they receive today.

Digital wins. Personalization wins. When you combine the 2 to create humanized digital banking experiences? Consumers walk away more content and in control of their financial life.

John Rosenfield, president of Jenius Bank shared at Money Experience Summit 2025 how this digital-only bank makes digital banking more human focused. Here are the main takeaways from the conversation:

Empower Consumers to Do More

As financial institutions have made the move to digital experiences, many consumers still find themselves at their branches to complete certain financial tasks. Not because it’s required, but because it’s easier.

Drawing from more than 20 years of experience within the banking industry, John recognized that Jenius Bank had a unique opportunity to make digital banking tasks seamless. John said, “To be a humanized digital bank, you have to empower customers to do everything that they need to do with their bank digitally.” 

Effective digital banking goes far beyond enabling consumers to check balances and view transactions. It means making more products and services available at your fingertips. MX recently asked consumers where financial providers fail to meet their needs. Some of the top answers were: providing information about better rates and additional products (47%), offering ways to simplify my life and money management (39%), and helping me reach my financial goals (38%). 

Consumers are asking for these services from their financial providers. And, financial providers can empower customers to do more by providing this functionality within their digital banking solutions.

Leverage Technology Where It Makes Sense

Too often, digital banking is met with a blind reliance on technology in places where it doesn’t make sense. Customer support is a perfect example of this. While some automated tools may help route customers to the right support line, it can also cause frustrations. 

Customers are often stuck in endless loops trying to fix a problem that would be a nonissue if they could talk to a real human. Supporting this claim, Gartner found that 64% of customers would prefer that companies didn’t use artificial intelligence (AI) in their customer service.

When establishing Jenius Bank, John was determined to establish a direct avenue to real, human support for customers — available 24/7. To ensure that people could find real answers the moment they needed them, the bank made it a point to put its phone number on its homepage. Just because an institution is digital does not mean that consumers don’t want a human experience.

Establish Strong Partnerships

The beauty of the financial industry is that there are countless players driven by their passion to help consumers across every area of their financial lives. One way that Jenius Bank has attributed its success in humanizing financial experiences is through its partnership with MX.

As John said, “MX is helping us identify real-world life situations and then give customers insights and advice as to how to be more confident in their decisions.” Instead of just providing basic insights, Jenius works to help consumers avoid common financial mistakes that hold them back.

MX found that 37% of consumers feel that their financial providers don’t do enough to support their needs. Today, financial institutions like Jenius Bank are investing in innovative technology that transforms the consumers’ financial journey. With this technology, they can understand real life events and create personalized financial offers — what humanized digital banking is all about.

Watch the full keynote conversation here.