The PSB noted a shift in the competition of banks towards interfaces and AI

Financial products are gradually ceasing to be an independent value and becoming part of the user scenario within digital platforms, said Alexey Shchavelev, Senior Vice President and Head of Retail Business at PSB, speaking at the Finnext 2026 forum. In these conditions, interfaces, data and the quality of customer interaction are becoming the key field of competition, the expert believes.

According to Shchavelev, traditional banking products remain stable. "Banks continue to confidently occupy positions in mortgages, long-term loans and premium services. These are segments where expertise, risk models and integrated solutions are important, and here banks retain a competitive advantage," said the Senior Vice President of PSB.

Pressure from ecosystems and marketplaces is increasing in the mass segment, where financial services are becoming a built-in purchase function, Shchavelev noted. As a result, the customer is increasingly interacting not with the bank directly, but with the platform that manages the choice, he added.

According to Shchavelev, the trend is being reinforced by the development of generative AI. "The competition is shifting towards those who control the user scenario: the interface, the data, and the customer's entry point. It is there that the purchase decision is formed," the speaker noted. According to him, it is this generative AI technology that will become the next stage of competition in the industry. "This means that the struggle for the customer will take place not only in the product or the rate, but in the way the bank is represented inside the AI interfaces," said Shchavelev.

"The task of banks is not just to create products, but to stay at the customer's decision point. In the context of the development of AI, this means being present in those interfaces through which the user receives recommendations and makes a choice," concluded the senior Vice President of the PSB.

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