Gen Z is the most populous generation in history, representing an estimated 25 percent of the global population. Over the next few decades, they also stand to inherit trillions in assets — a process known as the great wealth transfer. This makes them an increasingly important customer segment for the financial services industry. Many banks, insurers and wealth management firms will need to update services to meet the expectations of this digital native generation.
Born between 1997 and 2012, Gen Z has grown up with smartphones and social media apps that provide instant feedback and gratification. They’re used to products arriving almost as soon as they’re ordered, and engage in personalized, real-time interactions with brands.
“Gen Z is the first generation to grow up entirely in a digital environment,” says Professor Arman Eshraghi, Chair of Finance and Investment at Cardiff Business School. “As a result, they are used to frictionless experiences and expect seamless digital interfaces similar to those of big tech firms such as Apple or Amazon… Behavioral research suggests that users strongly avoid services with cognitive or procedural frictions.”
Gen Z is the first generation to grow up entirely in a digital environment
Along with paperwork and cumbersome identify verification processes, experiences that frustrate Gen Z include having to call customer service for answers, re-entering information across systems and difficulty accessing documents on mobile devices. A lack of transparency around decision-making — such as why a loan has been declined — can also erode their trust and loyalty towards a firm.
“Gen Z are frustrated by traditional financial processes, which feel slow, opaque and overly complex,” says Perry Rotella, Managing Director for Financial Services at Box. “For them, trust and loyalty are earned through transparency, shared values, and consistent digital experiences, not brand legacy. And, unlike previous generations, they’re quick to switch providers if expectations aren’t met.”
Gen Z are frustrated by traditional financial processes, which feel slow, opaque and overly complex.
Indeed, the behavioral concept of status quo bias, which explains customer stickiness, “appears weaker among Gen Z, who are platform-agnostic and readily experiment with new apps,” says Prof. Eshraghi.
Faster workflows, seamless service
Almost a third (31 percent) of Gen Z respondents to a survey by the open banking platform Tink said their bank was at risk of losing them should digital tools and services not be upgraded. Updating a mobile app or marginally improving a handful of existing processes is unlikely to cut it, however.
“Gen Z…prefers real-time customer support across multiple channels [chat, phone, app, social media] as well as a high level of personalization and instant gratification,” Prof. Eshraghi explains. Customized financial recommendations are now expected rather than desired, for example.
Gen Z also expects things like “instant transfers, real-time spending notifications and instant approvals for BNPL (buy now, pay later) options,” says Prof Eshraghi.
Gen Z prefers real-time customer support across multiple channels as well as a high level of personalisation and instant gratification.
To meet all these desires, financial firms will need to create fast, integrated and highly personalised services by fundamentally reimagining how they manage, access and use their content. Although they often hold vast amounts of valuable customer data, legacy systems and organisational silos can create a fragmented content landscape, leading to the kind of slow, generic and disjointed experiences that Gen Z won’t tolerate.
An Intelligent Content Management solution can help financial firms to overcome this problem. Large language models can break down data silos by drawing insights from unstructured content. The ability to automate file requests, quickly generate summaries and route documents based on metadata also speeds up reviews and approvals, unlocking fast, digital-first experiences. Onboarding is vastly quicker. Bank customers applying for a loan can also view, share and sign required documentation immediately, instead of waiting to receive a form by post. Artificial intelligence can then analyze their applications and other supporting documents, further reducing approval times and manual errors.
“A large language model can look at a document and understand it very quickly,” says Adam Goff, Vice President, Commercial Business at Box. “You can pinpoint the fields you want to extract from a certain document type, load in 20,000 [or more] of them at a time, and it then extracts that information, locates the document in Box, and at the same time exports that structured data set into whatever system you might be using… through our integrations [and APIs]. Everything gets put in the right spot, fully automated at scale and with insanely high accuracy.”
Smarter wealth management
Nearly one in four young people (23 percent) consult financial advisers or professionals for investment advice or information. A content platform that allows independent financial advisers and clients to securely collaborate on documents, portfolio reviews and financial goals has the potential to attract these Gen Z customers, who tend to have stronger opinions about how they want to manage their money. “Information is so much more readily available,” says Goff. “So you can become a quote-unquote expert on things.”
Self-service features, including the use of AI to get answers instantly across content in a portal, can also help to win over information-hungry customers while reducing the operational burden on advisers.
“An expert adviser often spends time answering incredibly obvious customer questions because they want to give them a great experience,” says Goff. “Giving that customer self-service allows advisers to do the more important work of actually researching investments they might not be in already.”
A platform that allows sensitive files to be securely accessed by employees, customers, devices and internal apps, yet with the files always residing in one location, also does away with the need to hunt for important documents. Box’s granular permissions, audit trails and built-in governance ensure that data protection and regulatory compliance isn’t compromised — crucial in such a highly regulated sector.
Embed personalization, self-service, and seamless collaboration into every experience
Secure, digitally-led experiences will become even more important as the great wealth transfer gathers pace. Indeed, by 2030, Gen Z’s spending power may reach an estimated $12tn and overtake boomer spending by 2029.
“To meet their expectations, financial firms must embed personalization, self-service, and seamless collaboration into every experience," says Rotella. “That demands an AI-first content strategy — one that transforms unstructured data into insight, automates workflows at scale, and enables the real-time transparency and speed that Gen Z expects from financial services.”
Learn how Box can help your company deliver the digital experiences that Gen Z expects.
