AI: How to Help Banks Maximize Customer Lifetime Value - at Scale
Barry de Leeuw — Backbase
Banks face declining profits due to overreliance on lending, exposing the need to diversify value propositions beyond product portfolios. Customers now prioritize convenience, personalization, and seamless omnichannel experiences over legacy trust. AI can transform retail banking by tailoring services to individual needs, routing customers to optimal channels, and enabling hyper-personalized engagement at scale. Breaking down siloed data with an integrated, secure AI platform can boost operational efficiency by 30% and revenues by 600 basis points, fostering enduring customer relationships rather than mere transactions.
"Are you just processing transactions or building relationships that last a lifetime?"
Summary
- Banks struggle due to overreliance on lending and legacy systems, limiting revenue diversification and customer relevance. - Customers choose banks based on convenience, experience, and personalization, not just products. - Legacy systems cause disconnected data, leading to irrelevant customer interactions and wasted IT budgets. - AI can tailor experiences at an individual level, route customers to the right channels, and enable hyper-personalized offers. - Banks need a horizontal AI-embedded platform to break silos, enable 360 orchestration, and rebuild lifelong customer relationships.
Article
AI revolution in banking: maximising customer value beyond transactions
Financial expert Barry de Leeuw reveals how artificial intelligence can transform customer relationships and boost bank profitability at Nordic Fintech Summit
At the Nordic Fintech Summit in May 2025, banking solutions expert Barry de Leeuw delivered a compelling analysis of how financial institutions can escape the trap of declining profits through AI-powered customer engagement strategies. His presentation, "AI: How to Help Banks Maximize Customer Lifetime Value - at Scale," offered a roadmap for banks struggling to remain relevant in an increasingly competitive landscape.
"To maintain profitability, banks must diversify and rethink their value proposition to truly bring value to customers beyond just product offerings," de Leeuw told the audience of financial technology professionals gathered at the summit. The presentation highlighted how traditional banks are being outpaced by more agile competitors that prioritise customer experience over legacy systems.
The false promise of 2021's banking boom
De Leeuw began by dismantling the illusion of banking success in recent years, pointing out that record profits in 2021 masked a fundamental weakness: over-reliance on lending revenue driven by high mortgage rates. As interest rates declined, so did earnings, exposing the vulnerability of single-stream revenue models.
"The knee-jerk reaction is to start cutting costs," he explained, "but McKinsey found that to maintain that same level of profitability, banks would have to cut costs at 2.5 times the speed – an impossible rate." Instead, he advocated for a fundamental shift in how banks engage with customers.
The shifting basis of customer loyalty
The presentation highlighted a significant change in consumer behaviour. Where previous generations selected banks based on trust and legacy, today's customers prioritise convenience, personalisation, and seamless experiences.
"It's not about what type of product you offer, it's about how you offer that to your customer—convenience, experience, and personalisation matter most," de Leeuw stated, illustrating his point with a personal anecdote about switching his primary banking relationship to Revolut after receiving highly targeted, relevant communications.
Legacy systems: the anchor weighing down traditional banks
One of the most significant challenges identified during the presentation was the burden of legacy IT infrastructure. De Leeuw noted that traditional banks spend approximately 80% of their IT budgets maintaining outdated systems, yet struggle to extract value from this investment due to disconnected data silos.
"If data sits in silos, disconnected from marketing engines and other systems, customers will keep receiving irrelevant promotions," he explained, highlighting how this leads to frustrating customer experiences like being offered products they already have.
AI as the transformative solution
The core of de Leeuw's presentation focused on how artificial intelligence can help banks break free from these constraints. He identified three key capabilities that AI brings to banking:
1. Tailoring experiences and products to individual customers based on their behaviours, needs, and life situations 2. Personalising service channels by routing customers to appropriate support resources based on their profiles and needs 3. Enabling scalable growth through proactive, hyper-personalised engagement
"AI will play a critical role in rebuilding customer relationships at scale by tailoring experiences and products toward the segment of one," de Leeuw emphasised. According to research he cited from Accenture, this approach could result in a 30% boost in operational efficiency and a potential revenue increase of 600 basis points.
Platform approach: breaking down silos
De Leeuw advocated for a horizontal platform approach to overcome the fragmented IT landscapes that currently hinder most banks' AI adoption. This platform would need to integrate channels, orchestrate data, and embed AI directly into its core fabric.
"To break free from legacy constraints, banks need to embed AI deeply into their platform fabric, enabling seamless data orchestration and hyper-personalised engagement," he stated. The platform's intelligence should combine both predictive AI for areas like fraud detection and generative AI for creating personalised content and experiences.
Beyond transactions: building lifetime relationships
The presentation concluded with a vision of banking that transcends mere financial transactions. De Leeuw challenged attendees to consider whether they were simply processing transactions or building enduring customer relationships.
"The future of banking belongs to those who don't just offer services but become indispensable financial partners in their customers' lives," he said, framing the central question for financial institutions as they navigate the AI revolution.
As banks face increasing competition from agile fintech players, de Leeuw's insights at the Nordic Fintech Summit offered a compelling case for embracing AI not just as a technological tool, but as a fundamental enabler of deeper, more meaningful customer relationships that can drive sustainable profitability in banking.
Part of Nordic Fintech Summit