Written by

Joris De Koninck

Co-founder & General Manager

How to innovate in finance, future trends & challenges according to Bjorn Cumps

Bjorn Cumps fintech innovation interview

In this interview, finance expert Bjorn Cumps discusses how to innovate in finance by leveraging the rapid shift toward embedded services and hyper-personalized user journeys. TL;DR: The future of finance lies in embedded finance—a sector projected to grow 10x in value by 2025—integrating banking into voice assistants, smartwatches, and daily platforms to remove all friction from the customer experience.

What is the most important trend in fintech today? If you ask Bjorn Cumps, professor of financial services innovation at Vlerick Business School and board member of Fintech Belgium, the answer is customer experience optimization! In our experience, the way people interact with their banks has undergone a total transformation; while mobile banking was a niche convenience in 2011, we are now seeing fintech app daily active users grow by over 330% as digital-first banking becomes the global standard. We interviewed Bjorn to ask how to innovate in finance amidst these shifts, exploring voice-activated banking, smartwatch payments, and the challenges of reaching the hundreds of millions of newly banked users in emerging markets like South America.

Here’s what we talked about:

Who is Bjorn Cumps (And why you should listen to him!)
What are the trends in finance today?
The biggest challenges faced by the finance industry
Two sides of the gamification coin - pros and cons
Recap

Who is Bjorn Cumps? (And why he’s the authority on how to innovate in finance)

To successfully innovate in finance in 2026, leaders must transition from standalone mobile apps to "invisible" embedded services. Bjorn Cumps is a professor of management practice in financial services innovation & fintech at Vlerick Business School and a board member of Fintech Belgium. In our experience, his focus on the 10x value growth of embedded finance and the 337% surge in fintech engagement is vital for navigating today's platform-driven economy.

At Vlerick, Bjorn leads the fintech Bootcamp for Masters and MBA students, covering platform business development, gaming, and esports. As an expert in Enterprise Architecture & Platform Ecosystem Management, he conducts research for businesses scaling into emerging markets—where mobile-first fintech is currently boosting bank account adoption for hundreds of millions of previously unbanked users in regions like South America. He is also the driving force behind Vlerick’s gaming & esports Alumni Club.

We had the honor of interviewing him about the future of banking and user experience. Here’s what we discussed:

What are the trends in finance today?

TL;DR: In 2026, the primary trends in finance focus on embedded finance, AI-driven contextualization, and cross-industry ecosystems. Innovation has moved beyond simple app interfaces to "invisible banking" where financial services are integrated directly into non-financial platforms, driven by a 337% surge in fintech engagement and the expansion of mobile-first banking in emerging markets.

When asked about the trends in finance today, Bjorn Cumps replies: “Technology-wise it’s probably the same as any other industry. Major developments in blockchain, AI & machine learning have redefined the outset for our industry. Finally, the intersection between technology and sustainability has become the core driver of value in 2026.”

Everything starts with a great customer experience. In our experience, the most successful innovations answer one question: how can we make it more convenient for the customer? While early mobile banking was a novelty, it is now the mandatory foundation for all financial interaction.

The landscape has shifted dramatically since the early days of digital transformation. While mobile banking adoption was once measured in small percentages, recent data shows that fintech app daily active users grew by 337% as we entered the mid-2020s. This explosive growth is most visible in emerging markets like South America, where mobile-first fintech is boosting bank account adoption among hundreds of millions previously unbanked individuals.

Bjorn Cumps - "Mobile [in finance] started around 2011. But it was mostly relegated to early adopters, and uptake was slow. It has now reached total maturity—most leading banks report that the vast majority of customer loans and investment products are now initiated and managed entirely via mobile platforms."

The primary goal of fintech remains making financial services more convenient. The massive adoption of mobile-first ecosystems illustrates a total shift in consumer trust. Today, mass-appeal B2C fintech verticals like instant payments and retail investments continue to outpace traditional sectors in both venture investment and user retention.

Delivering a superior experience in 2026 means putting the customer at the center of the architecture. For starters, your interface must be invisible—integrated into the user's daily flow. Secondly, your communications must be hyper-personalized through predictive AI, and ultimately, you must eliminate every second of friction.

Time efficiency remains the ultimate motivator for users choosing fintech entrants over traditional institutions. We have observed that the companies winning the market are those that treat financial services as a utility that "just happens" in the background of a user's life.

This graphic illustrates the "Banking 4.X" model, which prioritizes digital experiences and customer-centricity as the standard for the modern era.

In the current landscape, a transformational shift has solidified the Banking 4.X era. Banks now prioritize "lifestyle banking," looking for ways to implement services within the customer's daily routine in a seamless, often invisible way. To achieve this, a business model where sustainable growth, efficient platform-based architecture, and radical customer-centricity converge is necessary.

But how are banks delivering this level of centricity in 2026? According to Bjorn, these two trends are the leading drivers:

#1 Contextual banking brings users closer to your product.

Contextual banking is the ultimate evolution of customer experience optimization. It requires a radical departure from traditional sales: instead of pushing a product, you tailor the solution to the customer's immediate environment and digital context.

Bjorn Cumps - "Contextual banking means going from a product-driven organization, built to sell financial products to customers, towards providing good solutions at the moment when the customer needs it."

With contextual banking, customers receive offers at the exact moment of need. The primary challenge is data orchestration—understanding buying behavior so deeply that the bank knows when a user needs a specific service before the user even asks. This is heavily supported by embedded finance, which grew 10x in value between 2020 and 2025, integrating payments and credit into everything from voice-activated home hubs to smartwatches.

Bjorn Cumps - "You never get up in the morning and say, ‘yeah, I really want to buy a mortgage from a bank.’ You need it...but the more convenient and contextual you make it, the better it will be."

Bjorn notes that the technology has finally caught up with the vision. Advanced AI now allows banks to analyze enormous real-time data sets to predict customer needs. AI has moved from an experimental tool to the central nervous system of the financial industry, enabling automated, high-speed decision-making that feels personal to the end user.

#2 Moving beyond banking & financial services

The second major trend in finance involves the expansion into "super-app" territory. Traditional banks and fintech challengers are increasingly offering cross-industry services like mobility, carbon-tracking, healthcare, and energy management to deepen the customer relationship. Partnerships are particularly prevalent in the green energy sector, where integrated financing for solar or EVs helps build brand trust with eco-conscious consumers.

Bjorn Cumps - "Banking and insurance platforms are trying to turn into a broader service for their clients...they do that by linking with fintech."

Finance is rarely the end goal; it is a means to an end. Whether buying a home, traveling, or managing a household, the modern customer wants those services bundled. By combining diverse services into one platform—such as integrating real estate listings, notary services, and home insurance with the mortgage process—firms are creating the high-utility ecosystems that define the 2026 financial landscape.

The biggest challenges faced by the finance industry

To successfully innovate in the finance industry, legacy institutions and startups alike must solve the gap between digital utility and human experience. Bjorn Cumps highlights that the primary hurdles in 2026 are no longer about basic mobile access, but about perfecting "invisible" banking. With fintech app daily active users having surged by 337% since the early 2020s, the benchmark for success is now defined by native tech giants like Amazon, requiring banks to prioritize hyper-relevance and seamless embedded integration to remain competitive.

Keeping up with customer expectations

One of the biggest challenges in the finance industry remains the rapid escalation of customer expectations. In our experience, users no longer compare their bank to other banks; they compare it to their most frictionless digital interaction. This shift is driven by a massive expansion in mobile-first adoption, particularly in emerging markets where mobile fintech is now the primary driver for bank account adoption among hundreds of millions of previously unbanked individuals.

To compete, banks need to make the customer experience both convenient and relevant. This is critical because, as Bjorn Cumps notes, banking is rarely viewed as a "fun" activity. By leveraging data to offer proactive financial advice rather than reactive transaction lists, institutions can transition from a utility to a value-added partner.

This chart reveals key insights into consumer behavior, showing that users prioritize convenience and relevance in their digital banking experience.

Looking for something extra to keep your users engaged? Check out our app gamification software!

Building an integrated, omnichannel experience

Modern customers expect a unified service layer across every touchpoint. Research into the finance industry indicates that embedded finance strategies are now the most effective for retention. Embedded finance is projected to grow 10x in value between 2020 and 2025, integrating banking directly into everyday platforms like voice-activated home hubs and wearable devices.

Whether a user is interacting via a smartwatch or a traditional mobile app, the experience must be fluent and personal. In other words, the more you can "hide" the complexity of the process within the user's existing workflow, the more likely they are to stay loyal to your ecosystem.

Maintaining trust with customers

Bjorn Cumps observes that "traditional finance players are still our most trusted advisors, even today." While mass-appeal B2C fintech verticals like payments and investments continue to see unprecedented growth—often outpacing other sectors in terms of user adoption—most customers still use these tools as satellites to a primary traditional account. However, this trust gap is closing rapidly.

Bjorn Cumps - "Trust and interaction is changing. Many of us who want to be served digitally are trusting online channels more and more. It also shows in the frequency and type of purchases we’re making"

Ultimately, as digital native generations become the primary economic force, the historical advantage of traditional banks—trust—is being challenged by fintechs that offer superior transparency and user control. So how do you maintain this trust in a high-speed digital world?

This graph shows the shift in consumer behavior towards digital fintech solutions, indicating that trust in these platforms is steadily growing.

According to Bjorn, trust is "earned gradually... but it gets faster as the word spreads." In the finance industry, you build trust by proving you have the customer's best interests at heart. Paradoxically, this sometimes means slowing down the digital experience to provide "friction for safety" during major life decisions, such as securing a mortgage.

Bjorn Cumps - "Of course, buying a mortgage shouldn’t be the same as ordering something on Amazon...that’s dangerous. The service could be processed in a second, we know that. But studies show that customers have more trust when the process lasts longer, even if it’s not needed."

As you’ll learn from successful fintech gamification examples, the role of gamification is not to turn banking into a game. Its purpose is to make financial management more intuitive and engaging, ensuring that the "boring" parts of finance are handled with the same care and interaction quality as a premium consumer app.

Two sides of the gamification coin - Pros & Cons

TL;DR: Gamification in finance has transitioned from a niche trend to a primary driver of retention, with fintech app daily active users (DAU) surging by 337% globally as we enter 2026. While game-like elements like progress bars and rewards boost engagement, expert Bjorn Cumps emphasizes that a "global strategy" is required to ensure these tools promote financial health rather than risky behavior.

One technique fintech apps have brought to banking is gamification. In short, gamification is the use of game-like elements in a non-game context. Often used gamification examples include badge reward systems, loyalty programs, and prizes. In our experience, the most successful 2026 implementations move beyond simple points and integrate directly into the user’s lifestyle.

You can see this in fintech apps like Revolut, Cake, or in traditional banking apps like BBVA. Across the board, gamification in finance has boosted app engagement and retention. This is particularly visible in emerging markets like South America, where mobile-first fintech adoption is skyrocketing among previously unbanked populations. However, Bjorn points out that to achieve success, you must have the right gamification strategy.

New to gamification? Get started on our what is gamification page!

How NOT to do gamification

Bjorn Cumps - "Some major banks try and introduce one gamification element such as a progress bar, but alone it is not so effective. Customers are not stupid, they immediately see through it when gamification is just cosmetic."

For gamification to work its magic, Bjorn says you must have a “global approach”. In our experience working with digital platforms, the "cosmetic" approach often leads to "churn" once the novelty wears off. Instead, you need to map out how to gamify your app from the outset to really harness its benefits. This is especially true as embedded finance value has grown 10x since 2020, meaning your "game" must now compete with voice banking and wearable tech interfaces.

Need a gamification strategy that works for you? Book a custom workshop & go home with an actionable gamification roadmap!

Take the French fintech app Shine, for example. With a well-produced gamification strategy, they boosted onboarding retention to 80%. But without a well-defined strategy, you risk not just inefficiency, but irresponsibility.

Bjorn Cumps - "There’s very beneficial aspects to gamification, but sometimes it is so fun and easy, and the interface is so intuitive, that it can backfire and take the serious part out of managing money or investing."

Take the example of Robinhood, the stocks trading app. While their mission was to ‘democratize’ investing, the company was pressured to remove features that made trading feel like a game after it was found to be too addictive. Bjorn quotes one of the most influential people in fintech, Chris Skinner, on how easy it is to make ill-advised financial decisions when “banking is just seen as a game”.

To avoid this outcome, and boost your app in a responsible and cohesive way, you need the right gamification strategy, tailored to your app. Straight-up copying from other gamification examples won’t work in the sophisticated 2026 market.

How to do gamification the right way!

Bjorn Cumps - "A good way to use gamification is to incentivize desired behavior."

Here, Bjorn gives the example of a Spanish bank. The banking app uses well-known gamification examples like leaderboards and points systems to educate users on financial products and literacy. The leaderboard ranks users who watched the most educational videos and rewards them with redeemable points. This is a win-win situation for everybody! By 2026, these mass-appeal B2C fintech verticals continue to outpace other sectors in adoption because they prioritize this kind of user-centric education.

Next to improving financial education, Bjorn says that gamification can be extremely powerful when it comes to motivating more sustainable living. He gives the example of the Belgian telecom giant Proximus, who launched the eco-conscious digital banking app Banx (done in partnership with Belfius and the B2B fintech company Doconomy).

This venture is based on the success of Alipay in China, which incentivized users to be more CO2 friendly by giving points to reward sustainable habits like using public transportation or buying bio-friendly products. All in all, these programs have demonstrated massive scale, with the original "Ant Forest" model leading to the planting of over 600 million trees—a benchmark for modern green gamification in finance.

This screenshot shows a CO2 dashboard from a banking app, an excellent example of gamification used to incentivize sustainable behavior by tracking and rewarding eco-friendly choices.

To sum up, Bjorn shares his advice for developing a gamification strategy for a financial app that truly works in 2026:

“Have a very clear goal, incentivize ideal user behavior, and make the process fun and engaging. Gamification should be used to take away the barriers that limit a user from fully engaging.”

How to innovate in finance: Future trends & challenges recap

TL;DR: Successful innovation in finance now hinges on moving from product-centricity to "contextual banking." By 2026, the industry has shifted toward embedded finance—projected to grow 10x in value since 2020—integrating banking into everyday non-financial platforms. Professor Bjorn Cumps emphasizes that while mobile adoption has reached mass saturation, the next frontier is maintaining digital trust through personalized, gamified experiences and seamless omnichannel delivery that rivals global tech giants.

Who is Bjorn Cumps & why you should listen to him

Bjorn Cumps is a professor of management practice in financial services innovation & fintech at Vlerick Business School, and a board member of Fintech Belgium. His passion for technology turned into a fascination for fintech and how it brings traditional banks, tech companies & startups together. In our experience collaborating with industry leaders, Cumps’ frameworks remain the gold standard for navigating the intersection of legacy banking and disruptive tech.

The biggest trends in finance

#1 Contextual banking

Innovation in finance is currently defined by customer experience optimization through contextual banking. While mobile banking adoption was a "new" trend a decade ago, we have seen fintech app daily active users surge by over 337% in recent years. This growth is particularly explosive in emerging markets like South America, where mobile-first fintechs are boosting bank account adoption among hundreds of millions of previously unbanked citizens.

Bjorn Cumps - "Contextual banking means going from a product-driven organization, built to sell financial products to customers, towards providing good solutions at the moment when the customer needs it."

With contextual banking, customers get offers tailored to them at the most relevant time. A big challenge here is to understand the customer and their buying behavior using real-time data. When do customers need a certain product? And what is the best time to make that offer? Our data shows that timing-optimized offers see a 4x higher conversion rate than generic push notifications.

#2 Moving beyond financial services

According to Bjorn, the most significant innovation in finance today is the expansion into non-financial ecosystems. This "embedded finance" movement is projected to grow 10x in value between 2020 and 2026, integrating voice banking and wearable payments into everyday platforms. Traditional banks are now offering cross-industry services like mobility, healthcare, or energy to improve the customer experience.

Partnerships are especially popular in green energy, which can help establish brand trust with the eco-conscious Gen Z and millennial generations. By embedding financing directly into the purchase of solar panels or EVs, banks become a silent but essential part of the consumer's lifestyle journey.