New Glia Research Finds Service A Winner for FIs…If It’s Fast Enough
By Roy Urrico
One 10-minute wait for service would threaten the loyalty of 55% of impatient banking consumers, while 42% are more likely to switch after three or more frustrating service experiences. These are findings of Glia’s 2026 Banking AI Consumer and Leader Survey report that draws on responses from 2,000 U.S. bank and credit union accountholders and 200 senior financial institution leaders.
The new research from New York City-based Glia, which provides a banking AI platform, revealed credit unions and other community financial institutions maintain a clear relationship advantage over megabanks and fintechs, but growing consumer demands for speed and convenience are putting that loyalty to the test.
Glia’s report also revealed a growing generational trust gap and highlight how service friction threatens long-term customer retention, especially as an estimated $84 trillion wealth transfer reshapes the financial landscape over the next 15 years.
“The Great Wealth Transfer creates a pivotal moment of opportunity — and risk — for community institutions," said Dan Michaeli, Co-Founder and CEO of Glia. "They can do nothing and watch deposits walk out the door to megabanks and fintechs, or they can adapt. Banking AI helps institutions strengthen the personalized relationships and community impact they've invested in for decades while also delivering the instant, effortless experiences that younger generations now expect.”
AI and Competition
The research points to a banking experience that is becoming increasingly blended rather than simply digital or human. Consumers are most receptive to AI handling routine interactions, while continuing to prefer human support for more complex needs.
That dynamic could be especially important for community institutions competing against megabanks and fintechs. Among financial institution leaders surveyed, 27% identify an inferior digital experience as a top concern when competing with megabanks, rising to 38% when competing with fintechs.
Other key research takeaways include:
Generational loyalty is rapidly eroding among younger account holders. Just 44% of Gen Z consumers described their primary bank or credit union as a trusted partner, compared with 57% of baby boomers. Additionally, 58% of Gen Z consumers considered switching financial institutions in the past year, compared to only 17% of boomers.
Younger consumers have less patience for service friction. Sixty-three percent of Gen Z consumers say they would be likely to switch financial institutions after three or more frustrating customer service experiences, compared with 37% of Boomers. Gen Z consumers are nearly three times more likely than boomers to consider switching institutions after a 10-minute wait.
Michaeli and Marissa Matchey, Glia’s Senior Communications Manager, discussed with Finopotamus the survey findings and how AI can help credit unions and other community financial institution maintain account holder loyalty.
The Importance of Reducing Friction
“We are really excited about the report because it considers both sides of the financial relationship. It is really interesting to see some of these findings. just really accelerating with where we are, in terms of AI,” Michaeli told Finopotamus. “How important immediacy is, the importance of reducing friction, all of these things that we once thought were, of course important, just seem to continue to accelerate now.”
The data validates what the industry see across from consumers every day, noted Michaeli. “Institutions adopting our Banking AI aren't just keeping up, they're winning on service."
For regional and community institutions in general, they have a massive advantage because they have a very deep focus on a specific group of people, suggested Michaeli. “A field of membership is a really valuable aspect of how credit unions do business because they can engage with their members at a totally different level. But if friction is getting in the way, they can't make the most of that advantage. So, my message is eliminate the friction and deepen the advantage.”
He added, “This concept of friction is really interesting. Because friction in many ways is a lever that businesses overall use to create loyalty. But the friction can then bleed into other areas where a member isn't getting the experience that they want or it is not as immediate as they would want. And in many of their own day-to-day experiences, they have 100% immediacy.”
Michaeli continued, “As you look at these accounts and account holders, that's a critical moment there for the credit union movement. If we eliminate the friction with credit unions in terms of the immediacy, it can be an opportunity to actually have assets flow into the movement as opposed to away from it.”
Calling on Relationships
The Glia survey also focused on was service, explained Matchey. “The top things on (financial institutions’) wish list were routine tasks like account lookups, ordering checks, unlocking accounts, balance transfers. Those are things we at Glia help credit unions do instantly with AI. I think a lot of the consumers we surveyed want that immediately and they're getting it elsewhere.”
What Glia also discovered is that credit union leaders believe relationships are their biggest competitive differentiation. “What we wanted to do with the survey is see what do consumers believe? Do, do they feel as strongly about relationships? Are relationships important to them? Or is it really all about instant service, instant access?” said Matchey. “What we found is that instant service (with) no friction is incredibly important, the number one thing. But when you take that away, there's actually a ton of value left in the relationship side.”
In “one of the most surprising stats,” conveyed Matchey, Glia found that if Gen Zers, needed service right away, 27% said they would go to the branch. “That is not even far off from what the boomers said. So, it is really interesting this idea that younger generations have really high expectations for service, but when they want that human connection, they still expect the same thing.”
That is where the credit union difference really can become the golden age for credit unions and regional banks too, maintained Matchey. “Glia is really focused on helping banks and credit unions provide that kind of dual ended experience where they get the instant service that they expect, but that human first model, that branch experience that is associated with the credit union is still preserved.”
Help is Here
“Everybody has an expectation for more instant service. The speed at which these capabilities are evolving is staggering right now,” admitted Michaeli. “There's a moment right now where the institutions can lean into technologies that can help (solve) this problem, this immediacy, this friction, this inefficiency. The capabilities are there; the adoption is lagging.” He added, “if you can bridge that gap and actually accelerate right now, a credit union can put themselves in an incredibly opportunistic position versus fintechs, versus mega banks.”
Glia can help recommended Michaeli by “Deploying AI correctly within a credit union, not in a piecemeal fashion but doing it with an orchestrated approach that's holistic…where it can benefit operations, where it can benefit teams that range from frontline servicing to collections, to lending, to disputes, to fraud, to anywhere in the institution.”
Glia can automate large parts of banking operating process, but it depends on how deep credit unions and banks want to implement, Michaeli noted. “This is a moving target. It is changing over time, so there are more and more capabilities that we are regularly bringing to market that allow you to do different things.”
More than 700 regional and community FIs, including many credit unions, have turned to the Glia Banking AI platform. By connecting interactions, institutional knowledge, and workflow automation, Glia said it enables institutions to deliver instant, 24/7 service while freeing human staff to deliver highly-personalized support and fuel growth.
