Reimagine banking: The new playbook for revenue growth

Margins are under siege, fee income is shrinking, and digital-first challengers are rewriting the rules of engagement. Over 53% of banks say it’s harder to win and retain customers than a year ago¹, while digital banking experience spending is forecast to grow at a 29.3% CAGR through 2027³. The competitive gap is widening, and the cost of inaction is rising by the quarter.

In our previous Reimagine Banking articles, we urged commercial leaders to think bigger and act bolder. Today, the old playbook is obsolete – and the cost of inaction is rising by the quarter.

The winners will be those who see pain points not as obstacles, but as signals – pointing to new levers for growth, innovation, and profitability.

The revenue leader’s reality: Pain points as profit signals

Today’s chief revenue officers and sales leaders face a landscape where old growth formulas no longer work as well as they once did.

• Margin pressures exacerbated by inflexible legacy systems and high operational costs
• Unpredictable TCO and shrinking fee income – PwC projects U.S. banks’ net interest income will rise 5.7% in 2025, but fee-based revenues remain under pressure⁸.
• Customer expectations for more choice, flexibility, and transparency – Forrester reports 73% of Australians, 68% of UK consumers, and 65% of Americans expect full mobile banking capabilities, yet CX scores have declined for three consecutive years^5,6.
• Competition from fintechs and digital-first challengers – digital-native banks will capture significant market share by 2028⁷.

When looking at these pain points, mindset is crucial. Are they dreadful obstacles limiting our ambitions or are they signals for where we should focus, invest, and innovate? As sales leaders our operating philosophy should be positive, can-do and ‘glass half full’. Hence, they provide opportunities to reflect on our commercial playbook.

The commercial playbook: Levers for growth and profitability

Lever 1. Rethink pricing and bundling

• Move beyond traditional fee structures.
• Experiment with subscription models, usage-based pricing, and value-added bundles (e.g., premium digital services, loyalty rewards).
• Use data to segment customers and tailor offers, as customers are willing to pay for things they value.

Lever 2. Monetize Data and Ecosystem Partnerships

• Leverage customer insights to create new products (e.g., financial wellness tools, personalized lending).
• Partner with fintechs, insurers, and retailers to co-create offerings and share revenue.
• Build open APIs to enable third-party innovation – earning platform fees and expanding reach.

Lever 3. Accelerate digital sales and self-service

• Invest in digital onboarding, instant approvals, and frictionless cross-selling.
• Use AI-driven recommendations to boost product uptake and wallet share.
• Empower customers to self-serve, reducing cost-to-acquire, increasing satisfaction and opening up opportunities to sell more.

Lever 4. Optimize cost-to-serve

• Shift from high-touch, manual processes to automated, scalable solutions.
• Rationalize legacy infrastructure – migrate to cloud, retire redundant systems, and renegotiate vendor contracts.
• Focus resources on higher-value segments and more profitable channels.

Lever 5. Innovate revenue models

• Launch new business lines (e.g., Banking-as-a-Service, embedded finance).
• Explore partnerships for white-label solutions, expand into new markets without heavy investment.
• Use predictive analytics to identify and act on emerging customer needs.

The commercial leader’s mindset

Growth is not just about selling more – it’s about selling smarter; it’s about finding what customers value and then delivering it to them. Essentially, it’s about aligning every move with what customers truly value. This requires a mindset change from transactional thinking to strategic orchestration.

• Be proactive: Waiting for trends to hit is no longer an option. Anticipate market shifts and customer needs before competitors do. For example, if you see rising demand for embedded finance in retail, don’t wait for competitors. Use predictive analytics and proactive market intelligence to spot emerging needs before they become mainstream.
• Be experimental: Success comes from rapid experimentation and swift learning. Test new models, measure results, and iterate quickly. You could pilot new subscription-based pricing for premium products and services in a single segment before scaling. Use test and learn frameworks backed with clear KPIs to determine what works and what doesn’t.
• Be collaborative: It takes a village, or to put it another way, revenue growth increasingly depends on partnerships. Build ecosystems, not silos, to unlock shared value. Create joint offerings that centre on your core value proposition while taking a more holistic view of customer needs. For example loyalty-linked savings accounts or health-aligned loan insurance policies. Shift from close models to open APIs and shared platforms.

For long term sustainable success, it is vital that every lever pulled reinforces the bank’s core value proposition: delivering what customers want, profitably.

Pain points are profit signals for those willing to reimagine the commercial playbook. By focusing on innovative revenue models, strategic partnerships, and relentless customer value, banks can turn today’s challenges into tomorrow’s growth.

References

¹Celent. (2025). Dimensions: Retail Banking IT Pressures & Priorities 2025.
²Celent. (2025). Corporate Banking IT Pressures & Priorities NA 2025 Edition.
³IDC. (2025). Worldwide Digital Transformation Spending Guide.
⁴IDC. (2025). FutureScape: Worldwide Financial Services Predictions.
⁵Forrester. (2025). Global CX Index 2025.
⁶Forrester. (2025). Predictions 2025: Banks Must Innovate to Win.
⁷Gartner. (2025). Predicts 2025: Bank CIOs Embrace Machine Customers.
⁸PwC. (2025). Next in Banking & Capital Markets 2025.