Rethinking Commercial Banking for the Modern Era
Commercial banking is rapidly evolving as businesses expect the same speed and usability in work banking platforms that they experience in personal apps like Chime, Apple Pay, and Venmo. The Race to Modernise Commercial Banking highlights two major drivers: real-time payments and embedded finance. These trends push banks to enable instant approvals, initiations, and reconciliations. While also embedding AI into client-facing workflows, shifting from static platforms to intelligent systems powered by predictive models and with real time data.
“Here’s what’s happening: the people making banking decisions at businesses aren’t living in a vacuum. They use Chime, Apple Pay, and Venmo in their personal lives, then come to work and face banking platforms that feel like they were designed in 2005.” (Jimenez, 2025).
“Two developments are accelerating commercial banking transformation: real-time payments and embedded finance. Businesses are moving toward real-time, embedded payments, expecting banking platforms to handle approvals, initiations, and reconciliations natively." (Jimenez, 2025).
"Accenture’s 2024 commercial banking survey found that 61% of commercial banks cite real-time payments access as a key modernisation driver, projecting benefits including 30% reduction in IT spend, 10% increase in client acquisition, and 25% reduction in operations costs." (Jimenez, 2025).
"Banks are embedding AI into commercial workflows, not just behind the scenes but within client-facing experiences. This represents a shift from static, self-service platforms to intelligent orchestration layers where decisions, alerts, and actions are driven by predictive models and real-time data, not just user input.” (Jimenez, 2025).
This article emphasizes the importance of user-centered design in financial systems. Modern platforms must anticipate needs, reduce friction, and provide actionable insights. For commercial banking, this means creating intuitive, seamless workflows that enhance efficiency and client engagement. By integrating AI and real-time capabilities thoughtfully, banks can transform both processes and experiences. Meaning they can deliver platforms that feel responsive, modern, and aligned with human expectations. The lesson is clear: technology must work in service of users, creating smarter, more human-centered financial experiences.
References.
Nelyubova, G. (2025). Bank Building With Potted Plants and Atms [Digital Image]. Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/bank-building-with-potted-plants-and-atms-Ahhu8yDOzQA
Jimenez, A. (2025, August 4). The race to modernise commercial banking. FinTech Futures. https://www.fintechfutures.com/business-banking/the-race-to-modernise-commercial-banking
Content in this work draws on material from FinTech Futures’ article The Race to Modernise Commercial Banking (~40%), with original contributions by the author including synthesis, contextual analysis, and application to design and user experience (~35%). AI (ChatGPT-5) assisted in drafting, condensing, restructuring, and editing text for clarity, coherence, and conciseness (~25%). All interpretations, conclusions, and analyses remain the responsibility of the author.
