What does success in financial services really mean today? It is no longer measured solely by speed, security, or the delivery of products. It is about meeting rising customer expectations and designing journeys that are intuitive, personal, and trustworthy. Digital transformation has made experience design not just a part of the strategy but the foundation it stands on.
Against this backdrop, leaders from Salesforce India, Merkle, and Nippon India Mutual Fund came together to launch the Experience Design Trends Report for Financial Services 2025-26 and create crucial future-focused conversations around the ever-evolving FINS landscape. Keep reading to discover what’s next.
Highlights from the Expert Panel
The Experience Revolution in Financial Services
One clear message emerged: a functional digital journey is no longer enough. It must feel seamless, relevant, and secure.
Abhijit Shah, Chief Technology Officer at Nippon Life India Asset Management, outlined how customer experience, accessible data, and strong cybersecurity now form the core of financial operations. As systems become more connected, vulnerabilities grow, making proactive measures critical. He underlined the value of AI-driven security and real-time monitoring to address risks before they escalate and looked ahead to quantum computing as a potential turning point for how data is protected and processed.
Innovation as a Mindset
The organisations that lead are those that can adjust quickly to changing markets and customer needs.
Pankaj Bajaj, Regional VP of Sales at Salesforce India, illustrated this through Salesforce’s growth story, from modest beginnings to serving over 6,000 clients in India. The driver, he noted, was not one breakthrough but a constant focus on improvement and a readiness to evolve every day.
Smart AI for Smart Strategy
The discussion turned to artificial intelligence and its potential to create differentiated value. The challenge, as several leaders noted, is the uniformity of outputs when models rely on the same public datasets. Shah called for AI training approaches that reflect an organisation’s distinct objectives and brand identity. Bajaj connected this directly to personalisation, making the case for solutions that are data-led, measurable, and capable of building genuine trust.
Tarun Durga, Chief Design Officer and SVP at ECube Investment Advisors, addressed the use of synthetic data to speed up model training. While it can accelerate development, he cautioned that it must be tested against real-world conditions. In his view, AI should be treated as a strategic enabler of smarter decision-making, not a shortcut for reducing costs.
Neeraj Athalye, Vice President and Head of APAC at Icertis, noted a clear trend. Businesses are moving away from off-the-shelf tools toward AI solutions built to align with their strategy, culture, and vision. This shift allows for truly differentiated, hyper-personalised customer experiences.
Trust in the Digital Age
For younger, digital-first customers, trust is not won through speed or sleek interfaces alone. It is built through authenticity and thoughtful design.
Siddhant Dhillon, Vice President of Delivery at Merkle, emphasised that trust grows from consistent, meaningful engagement, the kind that builds loyalty over time.
Blending Innovation with Imagination
Technology may evolve quickly, but creativity remains a constant driver of innovation.
Umeed Kothavala, Former Chief Experience Officer and Co-founder at Extentia Information Technology, encouraged approaching new ideas with curiosity and playfulness, noting that “the magic happens” when creativity meets the possibilities of experience design and AI.
The central takeaway from the event was clear. The future of financial services will not be defined by technology alone but by how purposefully it is applied. The goal is to create experiences that are relevant, meaningful, and distinctly human.
Dive deeper into the trends shaping the industry, download the Experience Design Trends Report for Financial Services 2025–26.
Discover future-focused actionable strategies that are tailored to your business needs, start a conversation with us to explore our Trends Alignment Workshops.
