New Alkami Study Underscores the Need for ‘Anticipatory Banking’ Practices
- John San Filippo
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
By W.B. King
Among takeaways from Alkami Technologies’ recently released 2026 Budgeting & Strategies Playbook is that financial institutions have to become better at “anticipatory banking, a modern approach where financial institutions predict and meet accountholders’ needs before they’re expressed, using integrated technology and intelligent insights to guide outcomes, not just respond to requests, delivering the highest level of relationship banking.”
The Plano, Texas-based fintech provides credit unions and banks with a digital sales and service platform that integrates onboarding, digital banking, data and marketing.
“A digital sales and service platform is the foundation for anticipatory banking, combining best-of-breed solutions into a best-of-suite platform that integrates account opening, digital banking, and data-driven marketing,” the report found. “Helping financial institutions onboard, engage, and grow relationships more intelligently and efficiently.”
According to playbook authors, key characteristics of a successful anticipatory banking platform include:
Being proactive rather than reactive.
Personalization at scale.
Being rooted in unified data and real-time insights.
Delivering across all channels (e.g., mobile, web, secure messaging)
Designed to improve both user outcomes and institutional performance.
To power the initiative, credit unions need:
A single, integrated platform.
Data-driven and real-time capabilities.
Omnichannel engagement across digital and in-branch.
Ability to deliver platform-level return-on-investment (ROI), not just feature-level value.
Ability to empower relationship bankers and staff with context and tools to serve membership better.
A Quest to Fundamentally Change Banking
The report also featured a conversation on digital banking between Alkami CEO Alex Shootman and Broadview Federal Credit Union CEO Michael Castellana. Shootman credited Castellana with introducing him to the “anticipatory banking” phrase.
The $8 billion Albany, N.Y.—based credit union serves nearly 500,000 members. Castellana explained that by having a proactive mindset, institutions can reshape respective approaches to accountholder engagement, turn data into insight, and insight into action. Examples include prompting a member to refinance a loan for a better rate, intriguing them to invest after a large deposit, or preemptively flagging financial risks.
“We can fundamentally change banking if we change the way we use the data we already have. It’s my quest to be able to utilize that data to not just facilitate old school banking of being responsive to what a member wants, but to be three steps ahead of them, answering questions and in some cases, taking action that the member did not even know they needed yet,” Castellana continued. “We need to be their [members] CFO. We need to be their accounting department. We need to, in some cases, be able to make sure that they maximize their financial wherewithal. And we can do that. We have access to data that can look at spending, look at future obligations in their financial life cycle and address them so it’s almost seamless.”
In response to Castellana, who noted that credit unions need fintech partners to achieve anticipatory banking goals, Shootman said: “Your words describe what our customers tell me about personalization. At Alkami, we need to weave anticipatory banking into a digital sales and service platform that excels at helping you attract deposits, sell loans and offer fee-based products that your account holders will appreciate.”
Data‑Driven Engagement
Castellana’s approach was further supported by the following report statistic: 46% of account holders say their financial institution could do more to anticipate their needs. Alkami Technologies polled 1,500 U.S. adults aged 22 to 65, all of whom actively engage in digital banking.
“Merely offering digital access is no longer enough; consumers expect data‑driven engagement that makes banking feel personal and proactive. The financial services industry must evolve. Not around replacing people with technology (even in a digital-first world, human connections have incredible impact) but around the partnership that humans can have with technology to enhance their innate ability to care for and support each other,” the playbook noted. “This is a call to action for every institution. Not to digitize faster, but to deliver sales and service from a unified platform, in order to securely and at scale anticipate needs. This next stage of relationship banking is about purpose, and the belief that financial institutions, empowered by data and led with heart, can elevate entire communities.”
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