APAC consumers demand personalised financial wellness tools

Banks must rebuild one-to-one relationships digitally.

APAC consumers are redefining what they expect from their banks, placing financial wellness at the centre of loyalty and switching decisions. According to Puneet Malhotra, Chief Revenue Officer at Personetics, financial wellness today goes far beyond budgeting tools or basic savings features; it reflects consumers’ need for confidence, clarity, and personalised guidance in their day-to-day financial lives.

“Financial wellness is more holistic in nature. It's essentially, do I have enough spending power the way I'm spending on a month to month basis?” Malhotra said. He added that consumers now expect “digital capabilities, digital tools, ability to be able to track on a date or month to month basis around their budget.”

Yet today’s digital banking experience still falls short of these expectations. While banks have rapidly digitised over the past decade, Malhotra noted that something essential was lost along the way. “What we lost out is the relationship, the intimacy, the servicing on a one to one basis,” he said. The shift from branch interactions to digital interfaces has widened the gap between what customers expect and what banks deliver.

Malhotra argued that banks possess the trust and the data needed to close this gap, but are not yet using these assets effectively. “Banks have the trust for consumers, and they're sitting on a tremendous amount of data… leveraging that data, analysing those transactions and being able to understand each customer individually” is where the opportunity now lies.

Through Personetics’ cognitive banking platform, banks can reintroduce personalised, anticipatory financial guidance into the digital experience. The result, he said, is a “win-win” that deepens customer relationships while opening new revenue opportunities for banks.

This interview was conducted at the sidelines of the Singapore FinTech Festival 2025.