Generative AI is operational or better in marketing at 52% of the financial institutions in our new research, and 44% are increasing their spending on it in 2026. Not one of them describes its customer data as real-time and AI-ready. That is the report in two sentences. We have funded the layer that produces marketing and held flat the layer that decides who should receive it, when it should arrive, and whether it worked. The industry has bought the engine, but no one has bought the fuel. I have watched this industry meet every major technology shift the same way. Credit cards, ATMs, online banking, mobile, and digital account opening. Each arrived with a promise, each drew a rush of spending, and in each case the institutions that got paid were the ones doing the unglamorous work underneath, while everyone else bought the visible part. Marketing is now experiencing that moment with artificial intelligence, and the visible part is content production. That gap is the organizing finding of the 2026 State of Financial Marketing, produced by the Digital Banking Report and sponsored by Vericast. Over the next few weeks I will share what we found, from personalization to measurement to the operating model. Download for free: bit.ly/4yKR6dp

A logo or color scheme won’t make a bank stand out. Personalized experiences, proactive offers, and insights delivered at the right time are what create lasting customer loyalty.