Attending the annual Consumer Bankers Association Conference in San Diego offered a deep dive into the key issues facing retail banks in the U.S. Two sessions stood out in particular. In one, the CTO of Jack Henry, a banking software and payment processing company, discussed the importance of customer experience in digital channels that support deposit product acquisition. In another, the head of AI strategy at Barclays USA described the complexities of introducing agentic commerce within his organization.
Customer experience in digital channels
Ben Metz, vice president and chief technology officer at Jack Henry, a banking software and payment processing company, offered a candid take on the technological maturity of traditional banks. In his view, fintech organizations like Jack Henry and peer company Coinbase are more agile and move faster than traditional banks, largely because legacy banking systems were built for transaction settlement and clearing, not e-commerce. He argued that the reason digital customer experience at fintechs is "an order of magnitude better" than what traditional banks offer lies in their relative priorities: savvier organizations prioritize service execution first and compliance second—the exact opposite of how banks tend to operate.
Metz suggested that banks' digital channel design should align with fintech best practices, including a sharp focus on performance metrics such as the time it takes from opening an app to accessing its key feature. Jack Henry's research found that 63% of digital applications for new accounts happen outside of standard banking hours, underscoring the need for a robust, always-available online account origination process. Banks should aim to minimize the time it takes a customer to complete a new account application; two minutes is considered world-class.
Equally important is identifying and addressing sources of friction, including the drop-off points where applicants abandon the process. Banks should also examine why customers are unable to resolve issues through conversational AI and end up escalating to a call center agent.
Agentic commerce
Corey Cederquist, head of consumer bank AI strategy at Barclays USA, laid out his vision for "Agentic Commerce and the Next Era of Banking." He broke down the effort required to deploy Agentic AI into three components: 10% data science for deploying large language models (LLM), 20% building scalable tech infrastructure, and 70% redirecting people and modernizing processes.
Among Barclays' key learnings: It’s very difficult to automate a process that isn't well documented. Cederquist also emphasized that AI strategy and data strategy are inseparable—banks need to ensure their data environment is capable of supporting agents working autonomously on behalf of customers.
Deploying agentic AI in payments will require strong data governance, flexible design patterns, and a focus on building task-specific agents. It will also require the creation and adoption of industry standards, such as the Agentic Commerce Protocol. Payment networks will play a central role in establishing these standards—Mastercard Agent Pay, for example, supports both the registration of agents and the settlement of tokenized transactions.
Consumer willingness to delegate tasks to AI agents will develop gradually, in three stages. Initially, agentic AI will serve as a cognitive assistant. It will then evolve to present curated choices to the consumer. Ultimately, AI will act autonomously as an authorized agent, operating within guardrails set by the consumer. Adoption will likely begin with low-complexity, low-dollar transactions for familiar brands. Beyond card payments, banking use cases well-suited to agentic commerce include online bill payment and automated subscription services.
Consumers will only delegate financial activity to agents when the process is transparent, with real-time monitoring available through a bank-provided interface. A critical requirement is that consumers know they can reverse agentic commerce actions and recover from any unintended outcomes.
How Teradata can help
Deposit product applications and new account onboarding are among the most critical capabilities a bank can get right—they set the tone for the entire customer relationship and directly impact growth. The insights from the CBA Conference make clear that the stakes are high, and the bar is rising, for successful customer interactions. Teradata's whitepaper, "Customer Journey Analytics in Banking," goes deeper on the strategies and analytics frameworks that help banks win at every stage of the customer journey. If you're thinking seriously about how to improve your digital acquisition and onboarding experience, this is essential reading. Download the whitepaper today.