We joined industry peers at the London edition of the Gramercy Institute event, hosted at the Morningstar office in central London, to discuss trends and directions in financial marketing. 

The morning sessions focused on achieving impactful content marketing, channel diversification, the power of the brand, and of course, what AI holds in store for us. 

The AI panel, which David Simpson, MD, Marketing and Creative Strategy at Vested was delighted to be part of, started with the simple question ‘How prolific is AI in financial marketing today?’ David took a quick poll of the group and learned that while everyone uses AI in some capacity, only 40% confirmed daily use, and none had integrated it into their internal or client conversations. The conclusion? There is a clear desire to leverage AI, but the challenge lies in figuring out how, where and when to implement it. 

Across the industry, key issues include trust, regulation, brand protection, and compliance. David highlighted the Evident AI index as a valuable framework for measuring AI’s impact in banking, focusing on four pillars: Innovation, Leadership, Talent, and Transparency. He proposed that this framework could guide all areas of financial services marketing in deploying AI effectively.

Moreover, the real challenge for brands in AI adoption is the internal education (and permission) of teams, under guiding frameworks, to be empowered to use and discuss AI. While there are clear operational benefits, the creative possibilities are virtually limitless.

As the expectation for hyper-personalisation intensifies, financial marketers face increasing pressure to incorporate AI. Is there a formula for success? A combination of ethics and point-of-need communications may be key to building out the trust needed to ensure long-term success. 

In October, the FCA launched its AI Lab to foster innovation, signalling a positive step toward better AI governance and support for the industry to harness AI. This initiative can strengthen financial services, where accuracy and transparency in communication are paramount.

Over the next year, we anticipate ongoing discussions around Responsible AI and AI governance, and how to humanise brands through AI, all while ensuring transparency and data protection. 

The potential of AI is exemplified by the recent milestone of an AI-to-AI transaction on the Coinbase platform. We are moving toward a future where traditional tasks may be transformed into utility functions handled by AI, allowing us to redirect our focus to more strategic endeavours.

AI promises convenience, frictionless experiences, real-time point-of-need products, solutions access and much more. It is set to revolutionise marketing, particularly in search, where new entrants like Perplexity are reshaping the landscape with conversational search, moving beyond the conventional link-based model. AI will expedite the process from creative ideas to in-market publishing and optimisation with connected workflows from the likes of Adobe’s generative AI offering, Firefly.  

With a myriad of tools available for financial services marketing, the key is to start with your most pressing needs and build from there.