5 Ways Financial Services Leaders Are Innovating the Industry

‍

At the Movable Mornings breakfast panel in London, 50 brilliant financial services marketers gathered together to explore how fast-paced personalisation is changing the industry. With leaders from Lloyds Banking Group, Compare the Market, Adobe, and more, the ideas never stopped flowing—the venue was literally bursting with only standing-room left—and our marketers walked away with five key themes to keep top-of-mind in their future campaign planning. Read on to learn their discoveries and how you can apply them to your own marketing endeavours. 

1. Be a Change Agent to Build Momentum Across Teams

At Lloyds Banking Group, they’ve discovered how critical it is to shift away from a traditional, segment-heavy mindset towards a more agile, collaborative way of thinking. To get their teams on board and drive momentum for this approach, they started “Show & Tell” sessions where they share mock-ups powered by Movable Ink and Adobe. It’s truly a show-don’t-tell approach that opens their team members’ eyes to new possibilities.

<div class="featured-testimonial"><div class="testimonial-quote"><img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6601ecc67f6256b863e8143f/66193d349d7480ee7eef10b7_quote-open.svg" alt="Opening quote icon" class="opening-quote" /><p class="testimonial-quote">We’ve been accelerating our transformation journey, staying ahead as new tools and technologies emerge. In our newly formed CRM Enablement Team, we are focused on equipping colleagues with the right tools to take ownership of campaign delivery. In the first sharing session this July, we showcased the tech available as well as the brilliant partners that we’re working with in the forms of Movable Ink and Adobe, which received fantastic feedback.</p><img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6601ecc67f6256b863e8143f/66193d340c8f69772f73807e_quote-close.svg" alt="Closing quote icon" class="closing-quote" /><div><p class="testimonial-speaker">Alex Collyer</p><p class="u-mb-0">CRM Enablement at Lloyds Banking Group</p></div></div><div class="testimonial-headshot"><img src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/660ade9c724699adad87f05c/689b534b1a4616d938f16899_Alex%20Collyer%20-%20CRM%20Enablement%20at%20Lloyds%20Banking%20Group.jpg" loading="lazy" alt="" class="testimonial-headshot" /></div></div>

Another Marketing Manager summed it up perfectly: "This demo has blown my mind!! How exciting is that? To test and learn quickly—fail fast, learn quick. So excited by these new capabilities."

For Compare the Market, they created roadshows and a CRM Enablement Model Office framework to create buzz across teams and spark real enthusiasm for change. Additionally, they enhanced their approach to project management by getting all Compare the Market teams and relevant external partners in a room together every quarter.

‍Impactful change doesn’t happen in silos. To get all team members to buy into the vision, marketers need to make personalisation approachable and visible.

2. Test and Learn to Enhance Personalisation

Lloyds Banking Group shared how they’re progressing to more sophisticated testing strategies and looking beyond broad segments to dive into key data points, such as the last product browsed, to make their personalisation smarter and more relevant.

Over at Compare the Market, their new team structure is adopting a test-and-learn mindset. They strive to embed experimentation into everything they do—not just reviewing campaigns after the fact, but building learning into the process itself.

<div class="featured-testimonial">
   <div class="testimonial-quote">
       <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6601ecc67f6256b863e8143f/66193d349d7480ee7eef10b7_quote-open.svg" alt="Opening quote icon" class="opening-quote" />
       <p class="testimonial-quote">Now that we’ve established our ways of working and marketing tech to scale personalisation, the next phase is understanding what types of personalisation work best for which customers. It’s no longer about whether we personalise or not, it’s about using experimentation and data to tailor experiences based on what our customers respond to, and how that evolves over time. Like everything in marketing, personalisation isn’t a tick-box exercise; it requires ongoing learning and adapting both our strategy and communication to keep pace with customer needs.</p>
       <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6601ecc67f6256b863e8143f/66193d340c8f69772f73807e_quote-close.svg" alt="Closing quote icon" class="closing-quote" />
       <div>
           <p class="testimonial-speaker">Cailin Cron</p>
           <p class="u-mb-0">CME Personalisation Manager at Compare the Market</p>
       </div>
   </div>
   <div class="testimonial-headshot"><img src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/660ade9c724699adad87f05c/689b5498a00ff5f38cedaf48_Cailin%20Cron%20%E2%80%93%20Personalisation%20Manager%20at%20Compare%20the%20Market.png" loading="lazy" alt="" class="testimonial-headshot" /></div>
</div>

Moving beyond basic testing encourages teams to take risks, embrace learning, and deliver more personal 1:1 experiences—something that’s not always easy in the financial services industry but remains vital for long-term success.

3. Innovate in the Wider Financial Services Landscape

Change is rapid in the financial services space as brands and tech innovators explore fresh ways to blend creativity and technology. 

Crafting better, more connected customer-first experiences is always the goal, whether that’s through enhancing the in-app experiences or improving onboarding journeys.

<div class="featured-testimonial">
   <div class="testimonial-quote">
       <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6601ecc67f6256b863e8143f/66193d349d7480ee7eef10b7_quote-open.svg" alt="Opening quote icon" class="opening-quote" />
       <p class="testimonial-quote">Fraud awareness also seems to be a space where the industry is advancing, moving beyond mass distribution of large, content heavy articles toward interactivity built into payment processes that catch you in the moment. Pension providers who are ahead of the curve will have intuitive features such as progress-to-retirement measures or investment goals trackers.</p>
       <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6601ecc67f6256b863e8143f/66193d340c8f69772f73807e_quote-close.svg" alt="Closing quote icon" class="closing-quote" />
       <div>
           <p class="testimonial-speaker">Matt Ysart</p>
           <p class="u-mb-0">Product Specialist, Journeys, Data, and Orchestration at Adobe</p>
       </div>
   </div>
   <div class="testimonial-headshot"><img src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/660ade9c724699adad87f05c/689b82f7ce9ae9295d6b17e5_Matt%20Ysart%20-%20Product%20Specialist%20%E2%80%93%20Journeys%2C%20Data%20and%20Orchestration%20at%20Adobe.jpg" loading="lazy" alt="" class="testimonial-headshot" /></div>
</div>

4. Move From “What” to “Why” for Marketing AI

AI can be overwhelming if you only focus on the headlines. Strategic marketers need to not only be well-versed in what AI can accomplish, but knowledgeable in the best use-cases for their brand specifically. 

Cailin Cron (CME Personalisation Manager at Compare the Market) and her team are tackling this. She shared how their enablement team ran a fascinating internal session that explored AI personas— such as the Leadership Thinker, the Tinkerer, and the Moral Compass— to help teams see AI in a more actionable and realistic light.

<div class="featured-testimonial">
   <div class="testimonial-quote">
       <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6601ecc67f6256b863e8143f/66193d349d7480ee7eef10b7_quote-open.svg" alt="Opening quote icon" class="opening-quote" />
       <p class="testimonial-quote">The internal session was a real eye-opener, it helped us cut through the AI noise and think critically about what problems we’re actually trying to solve. That gave us clarity on how and where to start experimenting the use of it in our campaigns and ways of working. It was also a great reminder of the different perspectives within the team: some were focused on using tools like ChatGPT to test code, others were leveraging it to generate creative concepts. It sparked the bigger question: not just "What can we use AI for today?" but "Where might it take us tomorrow?" and how do we adapt to that?</p>
       <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6601ecc67f6256b863e8143f/66193d340c8f69772f73807e_quote-close.svg" alt="Closing quote icon" class="closing-quote" />
       <div>
           <p class="testimonial-speaker">Cailin Cron</p>
           <p class="u-mb-0">CME Personalisation Manager at Compare the Market</p>
       </div>
   </div>
   <div class="testimonial-headshot"><img src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/660ade9c724699adad87f05c/689b5498a00ff5f38cedaf48_Cailin%20Cron%20%E2%80%93%20Personalisation%20Manager%20at%20Compare%20the%20Market.png" loading="lazy" alt="" class="testimonial-headshot" /></div>
</div>

Lloyds Banking Group and Adobe are also using AI in their campaign workflows to speed up delivery and add creative flair. Tools like Adobe Express, GenStudio, and Firefly are putting more control in the hands of campaign managers. Best of all, initial tests are already showing real promise, as AI-powered creative variants are outperforming traditional sends.

<div class="featured-testimonial">
   <div class="testimonial-quote">
       <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6601ecc67f6256b863e8143f/66193d349d7480ee7eef10b7_quote-open.svg" alt="Opening quote icon" class="opening-quote" />
       <p class="testimonial-quote">Understanding the “what” of AI is just the first stage, and it’s one many organisations are already investing heavily in. To understand the question of “where” to deploy is harder. At Adobe, for example, we’ve embedded AI into a broad range of our solutions, from helping creatives develop faster and marketers design and ideate, to gaining higher quality data insight.</p>
       <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6601ecc67f6256b863e8143f/66193d340c8f69772f73807e_quote-close.svg" alt="Closing quote icon" class="closing-quote" />
       <div>
           <p class="testimonial-speaker">Matt Ysart</p>
           <p class="u-mb-0">Product Specialist, Journeys, Data, and Orchestration at Adobe</p>
       </div>
   </div>
   <div class="testimonial-headshot"><img src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/660ade9c724699adad87f05c/689b82f7ce9ae9295d6b17e5_Matt%20Ysart%20-%20Product%20Specialist%20%E2%80%93%20Journeys%2C%20Data%20and%20Orchestration%20at%20Adobe.jpg" loading="lazy" alt="" class="testimonial-headshot" /></div>
</div>

5. Leverage AI in Your Day-to-Day Role

We’re officially past the stage of AI being a new, unfamiliar tool. Today, AI should be a part of marketers’ daily toolbox, helping them reclaim time, spark creativity, and tailor customer journeys in ways that weren’t possible before.

At the panel, it was clear that AI isn’t usurping jobs—rather, it’s empowering marketers to work more effectively and have the bandwidth to create truly 1:1 experiences that delight customers. 

Ready to join our community?

Wish you were in the room with us at Movable Mornings? Stay in-the-loop for events like these—or find us at Think Summit Europe—by signing up for our email list here.