The opinions expressed here are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of UK Finance or its members.

We are in a time of sweeping upheaval. The industry is taking a long look at what it does and whether it can use savings technology to do it a lot better. They could not have picked a better time to do so.

Customer expectations are skyrocketing, especially at the point of onboarding and first funding. And for a new generation who never knew a time before biometric security and contactless supermarket shops, speed is a minimum expectation. Forget, for a moment, your competitors. Sometimes, the biggest challenge for your business is a loading screen that takes half a second too long. 

Turning your plans into action

Many institutions know that their underlying platforms are not changing quickly enough to keep pace. For the people who drive the industry, savings technology is the top priority across the industry. It is the foundation for deposit growth, customer growth and long-term competitiveness.

So, leaders know what good looks like, and they can see what needs to change. But there is a long-standing challenge across the industry: legacy architecture and delivery models that can make transformation slower and more complex than firms would like.

Fragmentation is your enemy

A big part of the problem is fragmentation. On an internal level, the business priorities are rarely as joined up as they could be. In some institutions, app, web and legacy e-banking journeys have evolved separately. That creates inconsistent user experiences across channels, duplicated support requirements and lower customer satisfaction.

Why is it so important to invest in a smooth digital customer experience? Simple. The customer relationship to saving platforms is changing. They’re managing their assets while walking to work. And they expect the same ease of service whether they’re on their mobile or sat at a desk. 

Consider this. In 2024, mobile banking became the most common way for UK adults to access their accounts, used by 75% of adults, according to UK Finance. It also overtook desktop banking for the first time.

So how can we move forward? We’re not talking about ripping up all the floorboards, and we’re not talking about adding a nice layer of digital varnish to a piece of legacy architecture anyway. 

In a way, you’re restoring an old building. You don’t want to lose the bones, the very things that made it good. But you are going to work your way up, layer by layer, improving the infrastructure and making everything function a bit better for a modern world.

The task, in practice, is to modernise core systems, deploying bespoke apps and AI-augmented infrastructure to replace fragmented legacy set-ups with cohesive, single-view customer journeys. Keep it smooth, speedy, and uncluttered, and you’ll already be on your way.

Resilience is part of your brand

Resilience is now a major measure of success. When viewed from the perspective of an outside customer, inconsistent service access across channels can feel like service failure. And that creates a perfect off-ramp for a frustrated customer to abandon your onboarding journey and take their business elsewhere.

That makes resilience a customer experience issue. But it is also increasingly a regulatory one. The Bank of England defines operational resilience as the ability to prevent, adapt, respond to, recover from and learn from disruption, including cyber incidents, IT outages and supplier failure.

For savings providers, that’s a good time to pay attention. A fragmented estate creates more points of failure. A modern estate gives institutions more control: over dependencies, data, service continuity and the customer journey.

The value differentiator

If one savings provider rolls out a better rate, it won’t take a rival firm all that long to match it. Attractive pricing will win you some attention. Maybe a headline or two. But it’s not a strategy.

A modern user experience, however, will win you relationships. In a fast-paced market, where rates are in flux, a savings provider that can onboard customers quickly and deliver a service across channels will stand out.

For banks and building societies, modernisation is no longer a nice-to-have. It is a key factor in whether they can compete for deposits, meet rising expectations and protect customer trust in a faster-moving market.

The savings providers that act now will not simply have better technology. They will have a stronger proposition: one built around speed, confidence, resilience and long-term value.

Our latest whitepaper explores how banks and building societies are modernising savings platforms to improve customer experience, resilience and competitiveness: