PUBLISHED DATE: 2025-08-12 18:50:50
GLOBAL BANKING BENCHMARK STUDY 2024
Digital Transformation: What’s Next for German Banks?
The Inside Story from 70 Senior German Banking Leaders
To uncover the current state of digital transformation in German banking, we surveyed 70 senior leaders from German banks. We asked them about the progress of their digital transformations, the main challenges they face, and how they are prioritizing their transformation strategies.
Key Stats at a Glance
- 76%: Over three-fourths admit that evolving customer expectations have exposed weaknesses in their organization’s current customer experience.
- 70%: Seven in ten believe their firm’s legacy systems and infrastructure are hindering their ability to provide the digital experiences customers expect.
- 47%: Nearly half cite AI and emerging technologies as their company’s number one priority over the next three years.
- 29%: Almost a third of German banks have adopted an agile operating model.
Top Priorities for Digital Business Transformation in German Banks:
- 14%: Improving cybersecurity
- 14%: Growing revenue from existing products
- 13%: Growing revenue with new products and/or service offerings
- 13%: Enabling greater agility
- 11%: Improving the customer experience
- 11%: Reducing costs through improved efficiency
- 11%: Acquiring new customers
- 11%: Challenging the threat posed by new market entrants (e.g., Google, Apple, Amazon)
The Three Main Barriers to Digital Transformation:
- Lack of Budget: 37% say lack of budget has been the biggest barrier to their digital transformation efforts.
- The Skills Gap: 34% say that a lack of workforce skills or willingness to embrace change is impeding their ability to transform digitally.
- Lack of Access to Data: 34% claim that access to data is their primary transformation barrier.
Personalizing Customer Journeys is a Priority for German Banks
Banks are looking to leverage data to create new products and services that deliver more personalized, omnichannel experiences.
- 50% are putting community engagement (such as educational tools and games to improve financial literacy among children, and remote access for customers who lack digital skills) at the center of their customer experience transformation.
- 44% are combining customer data across systems to build a richer understanding of their relationship with customers.
- 37% said that creating personalized customer journeys (such as tailored marketing and personalized saving tips based on individual spending habits) was their main objective.
German Banks Want to Become More Agile
Banks are transforming to survive in the customer-centric digital era, but access to data and the right technology and platforms remains a challenge.
- Agile Capabilities: 43% said that their top priority for operational transformation is to make their business more agile (e.g., cross-functional collaboration, decentralized structures).
- Modern Cloud: 34% declare modern cloud-based core banking systems to be a key priority for operational transformation.
- Intelligent Technologies: 30% are prioritizing other intelligent technologies (such as AI, machine learning, and robotic process automation).
How Do German Banks Think They Stack Up?
- 76% think they’re ahead of their competitors when it comes to their ability to transform customer experiences.
- 98% believe they’re ahead in key development areas, such as innovation for products and services.
- Speed: 76%
- Investment: 24%
- Capabilities: 80%
Internal Uses of Generative AI Are the Focus—for Now
Half (50%) of banks are pursuing transactional generative AI use cases, including credit analysis, portfolio management, underwriting, risk measurement, legal contracts, proposals, RFPs, pitch documents, and more.
For more information, contact: alexander.schroff@publicissapient.com
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