Why Financial Services Brands Need to Turn Trust Into Growth

Trust Remains the Foundation of Financial Services

Few industries depend more fundamentally on trust than financial services.

Customers entrust banks, wealth managers, insurers and investment businesses with their money, data and long-term financial wellbeing.

But trust alone no longer guarantees loyalty.

Accenture's 2025 Global Banking Consumer Study, covering 49,300 customers across 39 countries and 700 banks, found that 73% of customers engage with banks beyond their primary provider, while 58% had purchased a financial product or service from a new provider during the previous year.

“73% of customers engage with banks beyond their main bank.” — Accenture Global Banking Consumer Study

Explore Accenture's Global Banking Consumer Study

The implication is significant.

Financial brands need to turn trust into preference — and preference into deeper relationships.

Digital Convenience Has Changed the Competitive Landscape

Digital banking has transformed customer expectations.

Customers can open accounts, transfer money, invest, borrow and manage wealth through increasingly intuitive digital platforms. Switching between providers has become easier, while fintech and digital-first challengers have expanded the competitive landscape.

Accenture found that 33% of consumers now have a relationship with a digital bank. Yet digitalisation has also made many banking relationships more transactional and less personal.

That creates an interesting brand challenge.

Technology can make financial services faster and easier. But brand, experience and human relationships create confidence, meaning and differentiation.

Customer Advocacy Creates Commercial Value

Strong financial brands do more than retain customers.

They create advocates.

Accenture found that banks with the highest customer advocacy scores achieved 1.7 times faster revenue growth than others. Advocates also held, on average, 17% more products with their primary bank.

The research identifies four drivers of advocacy: trust, personalisation, customer service and competitive benefits.

All four extend beyond communications.

They are experienced through the proposition, products, people, digital platforms and every interaction with the organisation.

The financial services brand is increasingly the sum of the relationship.

Financial Services Branding in Action: UBS

UBS provides a particularly current example of brand and customer experience operating through major business transformation.

Following its acquisition of Credit Suisse in 2023, UBS faced one of the most complex integrations in global banking: bringing together organisations, platforms, employees and millions of client relationships while protecting confidence and continuity.

In March 2026, UBS announced that it had completed the migration of all former Credit Suisse clients to UBS infrastructure globally — approximately 1.2 million clients. The process included nearly three million personalised client communications, dedicated digital information hubs and more than 132,000 hours of migration-specific training for frontline employees.

At the same time, UBS has introduced a global brand platform built around “Banking is our craft”, connecting its Swiss heritage with expertise, advice and a more differentiated expression of what the organisation does.

It demonstrates an important principle.

In financial services, transformation succeeds when operational change, customer experience and brand move together.

Dimensions of Financial Services Brand Success

1. Build Trust Through Clarity — Make complex products, services and propositions easier for customers and stakeholders to understand.
2. Create Meaningful Distinctiveness — Move beyond generic claims around expertise, service and security to establish a relevant and defendable position.
3. Connect Digital and Human Experience — Ensure technology enhances rather than replaces the relationships that build confidence and loyalty.
4. Turn Trust Into Growth — Use brand and customer experience to build advocacy, deepen relationships and create sustainable commercial value.

The strongest financial services brands combine trust, distinctiveness and experience to become easier to choose — and harder to leave.

How Aeron Helps Financial Services Organisations

Aeron is an international brand consultancy specialising in brand strategy, positioning, brand architecture, visual and verbal identity, customer experience, digital design and integrated marketing.

We help banks, wealth managers, fintech businesses and financial services organisations create greater clarity, build distinctive brands and develop connected experiences that strengthen trust, preference and sustainable growth.