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Financial Services Market Research

Build trust. Simplify journeys. Empower decisions.

Why financial services market research needs to evolve

The stigma around money has gone.

Now, whether it’s talking salaries on TikTok or discussing pensions in the group chat, money is public, open, and always up for discussion. That cultural shift has changed how people choose providers, compare products and judge performance.

For financial services brands, that means you need a clearer view of how your brand is performing, why people choose you, and what makes them stick or switch.

The good news? Openness brings opportunity. With new tools like AI, big data and in-the-moment qual, we can now get a fuller, more complete picture of what people want, need and expect from their financial providers, and what you can do to win.

At Basis, we blend decades of expertise with cutting-edge tech to help banks, investors, pensions, credit card lenders, crypto platforms, fintechs, payment providers, and insurers decode what really drives trust, loyalty and choice.

Our POV: Trust might win customers. Empowerment keeps them.

The rules of financial services have changed. There are 26,000 fintech start-ups worldwide. Payments are instant, contactless, invisible. Biometric logins feel safer than pins. Stripe and Square are rewriting the playbook for retailers. And anyone with a phone can start a pension, build credit or buy now, pay later.

That pace has changed how people pay. It has changed how they think. Trust is still essential, but now it is just the starting point. Customers want smarter tools, faster journeys, and brands that help them move forward.

That means research needs to move too. Markenverfolgung, UX testing und proposition development still matter, but only when they are timely, connected and built for action. In a fast-moving market, insight must be current, decision-ready and strategically aligned.

At Basis, we use AI, big data and behavioural insight to uncover how people really think, feel and act around money. We track cultural shifts, category dynamics and competitor signals to show what is changing and where to focus. From payment preferences to brand perceptions, we help financial services brands see the bigger picture and act fast, with confidence.

What great financial services research delivers

Financial decisions are rarely simple. They are emotional, complex and high stakes, shaped by far more than product features or price points.

Research should cut through that complexity. It should reveal what drives real-world choices and helps teams move quickly, confidently and with purpose.

We help financial services brands:

Track brand health, relevance and trust over time
Understand customer needs across banking, lending, insurance and wealth management
Identify switching triggers, loyalty levers and moments of hesitation
Map journeys across digital, mobile and in-branch channels, including insurance customer journey mapping
Test pricing, proposition and product strategies for banks, fintechs and credit providers
Optimise UX and content across online and app-based experiences
Build customer segmentations grounded in financial mindset and behaviour
Refine messaging, creative and comms to land with clarity and credibility
Use AI and behavioural data to explore new white space and emerging Gen Z preferences.

Whether you are rethinking your app, launching a new offer or pressure-testing a rebrand, research should keep you aligned with how people really think, choose and act.

Our financial services research services

We support some of the world’s most trusted financial brands with research that spans sectors, methodologies and moments in the journey.

Whether you are testing a new fintech proposition, pressure-testing pricing in retail banking, or mapping loyalty in wealth management, we shape every project around the challenge, not the template.

Our work includes:

Markenverfolgung and performance evaluation
Customer Reisedatenerfassung und UX optimisation
Proposition, pricing and product testing for fintech, insurance and high street banking
Creative, messaging und campaign development
Segmentations built for activation and growth
Big data analysis and digital landscaping
AI-led innovation, idea generation and co-creation
In-the-moment qual and psych depth
Global and multi-market research programmes

As a global insights agency, we bring deep financial services expertise. Our work is led by senior consultants who’ve spent decades solving tough problems for some of the biggest names in banking, fintech, insurance and investment.

Wir know what good looks like, and we are not afraid to challenge thinking that holds your strategy back.

Talk to our financial services team

Wie wir arbeiten

When you work with Basis, you get a true partner: collaborative, curious and commercially focused. You’ll never hear us start with “what do you want to know?”

We start with “what are you trying to achieve?”

Then we design a smart, strategic approach to get there. That might mean blending behavioural insight with psych depth, testing propositions fast, or mapping customer journeys across digital and in-branch.

Whatever the brief, we build around your goals, not what’s been done before. We stay close throughout, working as an extension of your team. We challenge assumptions, push for better thinking, and make sure the insight lands in the right room with the right impact.

We call that insights consultancy. Which is why we’re the partner our clients put in front of their CEO. They trust our people, our thinking, and our recommendations.