More than 80% of large banks have a chief data officer, but only a tiny minority believe they have established a real data culture.
For too long we have treated data as an infrastructure challenge, when it is a relational challenge. After ten years of massive investments in complex architectures, the observation is clear: accumulating data is not enough to extract value if we do not have the main reading key, that of the customer’s intention.
The real glass ceiling for banks today is that of transactional data. By definition, it is only a rear-view mirror. It allows us to know what a client has done, but it remains silent on what he is planning. The financial flows say nothing about the move that is being prepared, the driving license in progress or the professional reconversion planned. This contextual data, that which reveals a real moment of life, cannot be captured by automated extraction; she deserves it. It is only accessible if the client decides to voluntarily lift the veil on their projects, at the heart of a close relationship.
This is where traditional banks hold an asset that tech giants cannot take from them: solidly anchored trust. According to BCG, customers rate the security of their data at 7.1/10 among historical players, compared to only 4.8/10 for neobanks. This differential of more than two points is the most underexploited source of growth in the sector. Trust is no longer an abstract ethical concept, it becomes the essential technical condition for the client to agree to become “readable”. The implicit contract evolves: the client only agrees to provide visibility into his future if the institution offers him immediate and tangible value in return.
To transform this trial, the bank must move from advertising targeting to real usefulness. This pivot is based on the creation of secure platforms offering additional services (real estate, mobility, etc.) which reassure the customer about the protection of their data while justifying their use. Being offered a product adapted to one’s personal needs is the third criterion for choosing a bank out of thirty-two.
By supporting a client very early in their life, the bank creates the conditions for sharing signals of intention that no cold analysis of the past could have revealed. The example of electric mobility assistance services illustrates this well: by offering a simulator of charging stations or tax assistance, the bank positions itself as a useful partner from the intention of purchasing, well before becoming the financier of the vehicle. It is this agreed data that makes it possible to transform banking advice into a matter of course rather than an intrusive request. Ultimately, the most effective data strategy does not depend on the power of the algorithm, but on the quality of the human and digital interface. If the bank does not know why it collects the data, the customer will know why he does not give it.
