Financial firms risk losing relevance as consumers increasingly turn to AI for financial guidance, industry leaders warn.
At a Moneyhub webinar, experts warn that while AI is commonly used for back-office efficiencies, its potential to revolutionise pension engagement is being ignored.
According to Engage Smarter co-founder Felicia Meyerowitz Singh: “Firms can kid themselves that they have time, but members are already using AI for financial questions.” She predicts that in the next decade, traditional banking and pension apps will be replaced by AI-driven conversational interfaces.
Moneyhub CTO Dave Tonge echoes the urgency, warning that firms failing to integrate AI tools will lose customers. “If financial service firms don’t provide AI-driven tools to help people manage their finances, consumers won’t just sit and wait—they’ll find alternatives,” he says.
Mercer’s head of proposition Stephen Coates highlights AI’s growing role in pensions, describing an AI-powered pension specialist as “a chatbot that actually works.” He stressed that financial firms must act now to develop their own AI solutions. He says: “If we don’t come up with our own answers, people will turn to Geminis and ChatGPTs.”
Experts point to AI’s ability to improve financial decision-making through personalisation, scale, and accessibility. Coates notes that AI’s integration into everyday platforms like WhatsApp will further transform engagement which is what his team has done with the Mercer chatbot.
He says: “We’ve never been able to have multi-scalable, personalised conversations like this before. That’s going to change the landscape considerably.”
