Christopher Jackson, Financial Services Strategy & Marketing Leader, Creatio
For the last two decades, digital transformation in financial services has come from massive core system upgrades, compliance software and customer-facing platforms. These overhauls were led by IT departments or outside vendors, often involving long development cycles and significant expense.
But the landscape has shifted. Customers now expect seamless, digital-first experiences shaped by the on-demand convenience of other industries. Regulators continue to tighten oversight, from anti-money laundering (AML) to fraud detection and evolving reporting standards. Meanwhile, institutions are still grappling with outdated systems.
It’s no surprise that 55% of banks say their core systems – the foundational technologies that underpin their operations – are the biggest barrier to achieving digital goals.
The deeper shift underway is that change is now being led by domain experts. Those on the front line and behind the scenes, from branch staff to loan officers to compliance teams, know where processes slow down and where inconsistencies creep in, and they finally have the tools to act.
Until recently, they had little ability to act on that knowledge without engaging developers and waiting months or years for results.
Now, no-code platforms are changing that dynamic.
Empowering the experts
No-code platforms are giving domain experts the ability to act directly. Automations can be built and adapted by the people closest to the work, without relying on IT or external vendors.
In a sector where efficiency and accuracy are non-negotiable, that represents not just a technological change but a cultural one.
AI that works
Artificial intelligence dominates financial services headlines, often in the form of hype: promises of machines replacing human judgment or wholesale reinvention of banking. The reality emerging inside banks and credit unions is far more grounded, typically taking a “human-in-the-loop” approach.
More than three-quarters of financial-services executives say their organisations already use AI in at least one business function, and adoption is accelerating. What’s taking shape is practical autonomy. Rather than chasing sweeping visions, institutions are embedding AI into the workflows that define daily performance and customer trust.
Four domains in particular are seeing the most immediate impact:
- Customer lifecycle management. AI agents can enrich consumer profiles, generate content and direct service requests to the right team. The result is more personalised engagement from first touch through onboarding and beyond.
- Product fulfilment. From loan origination to credit card upgrades, AI-guided workflows help staff accelerate processes and maintain consistency. Agents can suggest next-best actions, reducing delays while improving conversations and transparency.
- Operations and internal service. Routine tasks such as payments, transfers and case resolution can be streamlined with AI support. Teams gain a unified environment that reduces handoffs, increases first contact resolutions, and keeps service activities on track and within SLA allowances.
- Compliance and risk. With regulations constantly shifting, AI-powered workflows give teams the ability to classify alerts, flag potential risks and follow guided resolution steps. This helps institutions maintain visibility, accountability and readiness for audits, while adapting quickly to new fraud, regulatory, and other compliance requirements.
The goal isn’t to replace expertise, but to broaden it, reducing manual work, surfacing context and ensuring more consistent outcomes. Crucially, this shift doesn’t demand coding skills. Through natural language interfaces and no-code configuration, finance professionals can create, adapt, and launch workflows themselves.
That accessibility means AI is no longer reserved for IT or external vendors. This represents a fundamental shift in how digital transformation happens; not as periodic, costly overhauls, but as continuous adaptation driven by the people who understand the work best.
Where it’s already happening
In practice, front-line staff can be guided by AI agents recommending next-best actions during a loan application. Operations teams can generate documentation or resolve tickets more quickly. Compliance officers can triage alerts or follow guided resolution steps. All of this can happen within conversational workspaces acting as the single pane of glass that integrates with other familiar enterprise systems.
While the details differ across solutions, the path to success is consistent: tools designed for financial services professionals to use directly, without IT mediation.
Who leads the next wave
The real story of transformation in banking and credit unions isn’t about which new systems to buy, but about who leads change. By equipping domain experts with agentic, no-code platforms institutions can modernise faster, adapt continuously and reflect the realities of both staff and customers.
In an industry defined by consumer trust, regulation and competition, bottom-up empowerment may prove to be the most significant innovation of all. And as we move into the future, it’s clear the next wave of banking transformation will come from inside the business.
