Digital Transformation’s Rising Tide

For years, digital transformation in financial services meant long timelines, high costs, and invisible results. Behind the scenes, teams wrestled with legacy systems, tangled business logic, and the sheer complexity of modernising mission-critical platforms.

But the tide is rising.

At BehindLogin, we’re constantly analysing and benchmarking hundreds of digital journeys across financial services. And the evidence is clear: transformation efforts are finally gaining traction, not just in backend systems, but in real, visible customer experiences.

The Original Problem

CIOs launched transformation to tackle foundational issues:

• Legacy architectures grown like tangled webs over decades

• Minor updates costing tens of thousands (a simple label tweak buried in Salesforce costing ~£10k)

• Rigid, hard-to-change backend code, often written in COBOL

• Systems so inflexible change was nearly impossible.

Amid these challenges, transformation schemes spanning 4 – 7 years and £100m+ were common. Enterprise-scale programmes routinely averaged £27.5m worldwide, with public sector IT projects frequently overrunning by 27% and delays of 24% 

Where the Investment Goes

Most of the spend focused on:

• Infrastructure modernisation: migrating from mainframes to cloud-native platforms

• API and microservices implementation for modularity

• DevOps tooling and CI/CD pipelines for faster releases

• Security and compliance frameworks to meet regulatory demands

This “invisible lift” laid the foundation, without which UX gains would’ve remained impossible.

Proof In The Pudding

Evidence shows these investments are bearing fruit:

• Faster feature deployment: Major banks are now shipping new app modules within months, not years.

• UX uplift: Across App Store ratings, reviews, and BehindLogin benchmarks, ratings are improving, perceptions are changing and experiences are becoming cleaner, more intuitive and accessible.

• Design system adoption: Consistency is improving thanks to reusable component frameworks.

• AI-powered assistants: NatWest’s AI bot “Cora” managed 11.2 million conversations in 2024, on par with its branch and call‑centre volumes.

• Digital banking growth: 86% of UK adults use online banking, and digital only account adoption soared from 24% in 2023 to 36% in 2024.

Moreover, while only 30% of banks report fully achieving transformation objectives, the ones that have are moving notably faster and seeing real customer gains

Why This Moment Matters

When challengers like Monzo and Starling launched, their competitive edge was clear: better UX. They built trust through transparency, gained traction with younger users, and attracted switchers who were tired of clunky legacy banking.

But that advantage is fading.

Thanks to years of digital transformation, the playing field is levelling. Big banks now have the infrastructure, tooling, and capability to build at pace. With deep customer bases, deep pockets, and major marketing firepower, they’re turning their scale into product advantage.

As a result, UX is shifting from differentiator to hygiene factor. Good design is now expected!

So what happens next? Will challengers maintain growth as their USP is diluted? Or will incumbents recapture ground by combining reach with improved experience?

Three Lessons for Digital Leaders

1. UX alone is no longer a moat
   You can’t rely on simplicity or design thinking to win by default. The rest of the market is catching up. Fast.

2. Keep investing in experience
   User expectations are still rising. Falling behind isn’t obvious until it’s too late. Consistent benchmarking is key.

3. Watch the landscape, not just your roadmap
   The firms that win next won’t just build faster; they’ll build smarter, informed by what others are testing and shipping behind the login.