The financial services sector operates on a bedrock of trust. From managing sensitive data to navigating potential risks, every customer interaction carries significant weight. As Marketing Week’s latest CX50 list underscores, the industry’s top customer experience (CX) professionals are masterfully balancing technological advancements with the imperative to maintain and deepen customer trust.
This delicate equilibrium is particularly evident in the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI). While AI offers transformative potential , financial brands must ensure its deployment is flawless, given the high customer expectations and the severe repercussions of any misstep. We at Cognizant, in partnership with Marketing Week, Google, and Salesforce, are proud to highlight the CX50 2025 professionals who are successfully walking this tightrope.
Recognising Financial Services CX Excellence: The CX50 2025
- Suresh Balaji, Chief Marketing Officer, Lloyds Banking Group
- Phoebe Barter, Group Brand Director, Aviva
- Kerry Elsdon, Senior Vice-President, Global Head of Digital Marketing and Martech, Mastercard
- James Henderson, Sales and Marketing Director, Simplyhealth
- Jagpal Jheeta, Chief Product Officer, Financial Conduct Authority
- Margaret Jobling, Chief Marketing Officer, NatWest Group
- Gemma Johnson, Director of Growth and Marketing Operations, Starling Bank
- Catherine Kehoe, Chief Customer, Brand and Engagement Officer, Nationwide
- Richard Pash, Chief Customer Officer, UK and EMEA, Zurich
- Jayne Showell, Group Chief Information and Digital Officer, Coventry Building Society
The Human-Centric AI Approach
Financial services brands and their customers are increasingly embracing tech-enabled experiences. For instance, 52% of people are comfortable accessing banking services on their smartphone, a figure higher than those using it for booking travel (44%). However, this comfort comes with a demand for transparency and a human touch.
Phoebe Barter, Group Brand Director at Aviva, emphasizes the "tremendously exciting" potential of AI, provided its application is "mindful and cautious". Aviva has already deployed generative AI to summarise motor claims processes, enabling contact centre staff to spend more time liaising with customers rather than inputting data or switching between systems. This strategic application allows technology to enhance human service, not replace it, ensuring a smoother, more personalized experience for the customer. The change has reduced call handling times by 10%.
Similarly, Richard Pash, Chief Customer Officer, UK and EMEA at Zurich UK, notes their use of AI in "lots of small ways, which I think are sometimes the most impactful". This includes a conversational AI platform for consistent customer service across channels and a generative AI solution for risk assessment to boost accuracy, efficiency, and transparency in the underwriting process.
Transparency, Ethics, and the 'Human in the Loop'
Kerry Elsdon, Senior Vice-President, Global Head of Digital Marketing and Martech at Mastercard, highlights that customers embrace technology when it delivers real value like speed, personalization, or a greater sense of control. However, they also expect transparency, especially as AI and synthetic media become more visible. Mastercard prioritizes responsible and secure AI-driven experiences through close collaboration across legal, privacy, brand, communications, and tech teams, focusing on building trust through clear disclosures and strong ethical standards. A prime example is their use of AI to enhance real-time fraud detection, protecting cardholders without adding friction.
Despite the advancements in AI, the importance of human interaction remains paramount in financial services. Zurich, for example, found that while they tried chatbots, live chat is often the preference for customers, who primarily "want to talk to a human being". This desire becomes more pronounced with the seriousness of a query or claim. This is why brands like Zurich never conceal their phone numbers and always offer customers choice in how they interact. As Phoebe Barter of Aviva aptly puts it, the approach should be to "proceed with caution and always with a human in the loop because at the end of the day nothing beats human judgment".
The Future: Agentic AI and Seamless Experiences
The future of CX in financial services is increasingly moving towards "agentic AI"—technology that can not only anticipate customer needs, but also take secure, personalized action on their behalf. Mastercard's Agent Pay tool, enabling intelligent, secure payments with minimal user input, is a step towards commerce that "just happens smoothly, securely and invisibly". This shift turns AI from a passive support tool into an active participant in people’s lives, demanding even greater focus on creative and ethical design, grounded in trust, transparency, and emotional relevance.
The CX50 financial services leaders demonstrate that by thoughtfully integrating AI, while upholding rigorous ethical standards and prioritizing the human element, the sector can continue to innovate and build deeper, more meaningful relationships with its customers.
