Digital Transformation Examples in Banking: Success Stories From Industry Leaders

Banks have traditionally been cautious when adopting modern technology, and for good reason. Legacy systems, regulatory compliance demands, data security concerns, and the sheer scale of operations make changes complex and risky. But the industry is shifting. Today, numerous digital transformation examples in banking demonstrate that innovation is not only possible but essential for improving operational efficiency, meeting customer expectations, and remaining competitive.

In recent years, global digital technology spending in the banking sector has been increasing at an average of 9% annually, with banks worldwide investing $650 billion in 2023 alone. That same year, US banks planned to spend over $5 billion on data-related initiatives, laying the groundwork for artificial intelligence (AI) and big data analytics projects. 

This article outlines real-world examples of successful digital transformation in the banking industry. We’ll highlight the solutions adopted, strategies applied, and business outcomes achieved, showing what’s possible when digital innovation meets execution.

JPMorgan Chase

JPMorgan Chase is one of the largest banks in the US, operating in over 100 countries. Being a global leader in the financial services sector, it serves millions of customers through its retail, commercial, and investment banking divisions. Over the past few years, JPMorgan Chase has been actively transforming its customer-facing and back-office functions with digital technology, setting a high bar for innovation among traditional banks.

Cloud-first strategy

JPMorgan Chase made cloud technology a cornerstone of its digital transformation journey. By early 2024, the bank had moved 70% of its data and 50% of its applications to public or private cloud environments, with plans to increase these figures to 75% and 70%, respectively. This large-scale migration delivered measurable results. Despite a 50% increase in compute and storage volumes since 2019, the bank has maintained flat infrastructure costs. 

AI/ML digital solutions

While many banks are still experimenting with AI/ML in isolated processes, JPMorgan Chase has taken a broader, more strategic approach. The company has made significant investments in these technologies to streamline operations, improve employee and customer experiences, and strengthen its competitive advantage. 

Its latest large-scale AI initiative, LLM Suite, is a set of generative AI tools that help the bank’s staff securely use large language models in their daily work. By 2024, more than 200,000 bank employees were using the platform, with key applications including:

• Intelligent automation. Similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the LLM Suite enables employees to automate time-consuming tasks, such as drafting emails and summarizing documents. It also serves as a virtual research assistant, providing quick and contextual answers on internal topics.
• Wealth management advisory. Coach AI, a specialized tool within the LLM ecosystem, helps the bank’s wealth and portfolio management teams provide faster, more accurate, personalized financial advice. According to the Asset and Wealth Management department, Coach AI contributed to a 20% increase in its gross sales between 2023 and 2024.
• Software development. The bank’s AI-powered coding assistant supports the bank’s 63,000 tech workforce (roughly 21% of its global staff). Since launch, it has boosted engineering productivity by up to 20%. 
• Customer support. AI tools also help JPMorgan’s call center employees quickly retrieve service information, summarize call transcripts, and access key insights.

American Banker named LLM Suite “Innovation of the Year,” highlighting JPMorgan Chase’s leadership in digital banking transformation. 

AI is changing retail banking—Use cases, challenges, and trends

PKO Bank Polski

PKO Bank Polski is Poland’s largest and most recognized financial institution. With a strong presence across Central and Eastern Europe, it serves over 12 million customers through a network of 1,000 branches and a wide range of digital channels. 

The bank offers a comprehensive suite of banking services, including personal and corporate banking, investment solutions, and insurance products. By continuously investing in new technologies, PKO Bank Polski enhances customer experience, streamlines operations, and maintains its leadership in digital banking innovation.

IKO mobile app 

The IKO mobile banking app has become a cornerstone of PKO Bank Polski’s digital transformation efforts. Launched over a decade ago, it has continuously evolved to meet changing customer needs. Today, it offers a variety of features, including online currency exchange, personal finance and credit management tools, QR code transactions, and AI-powered voice assistance. 

The app has earned international recognition. The British industry magazine Retail Banker International named it the world’s best mobile banking app twice. Further reflecting its success, the app holds an impressive average rating of 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store and Google Play, testifying to high customer satisfaction with the online banking experience delivered by PKO Bank Polski.

iPKO biznes

iPKO Biznes is PKO Bank Polski’s mobile banking app designed specifically to meet the complex needs of corporate clients. It enables business executives and financial managers to manage company finances efficiently and securely, anytime and anywhere. 

The app offers a wide range of functionalities, including mobile authorization for secure transaction approval, comprehensive transaction management, real-time account monitoring, and access to detailed financial reports. iPKO Biznes has been well received by users, earning a 4.5 rating in a recent customer satisfaction survey, reflecting its reliability, usability, and alignment with the demands of modern business banking.

Data Hub 

Data Hub is another digital transformation initiative by PKO Bank Polski. As the bank expanded its online services, its legacy mainframe systems struggled with the growing volume of mostly read-only requests from digital platforms. This led to several issues, including costly maintenance, limited scalability, performance bottlenecks, and increased risk of system failures.

To solve these challenges, PKO Bank Polski partnered with Neontri to develop the Data Hub. It’s an offloading system that captures and replicates data changes from the core banking system in near real-time, significantly reducing the load on infrastructure. Thanks to its distributed architecture, the Data Hub ensures high availability and fault tolerance. 

BBVA

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) is a century-old global banking and financial service provider. Founded in Spain, it now serves over 77 million customers in more than 25 countries, including Mexico, Argentina, and Turkey. 

BBVA was one of the first banks in Europe to launch a marketplace of its application programming interfaces (APIs), taking an early lead in open banking. Today, it continues to invest in new technologies to keep up with evolving customer demands.

ADA platform

The ADA (Analytics, Data, AI) platform is a key part of BBVA’s digital transformation strategy. Built on AWS, it replaces older, fragmented systems with a unified cloud-based infrastructure that brings together data management, analytics, and AI capabilities.

The platform handles over four petabytes of data and manages 40,000 databases daily, enabling BBVA to scale its resources as needed. It has also improved performance, cutting latency in analytics environments by as much as 94%.

What’s more, ADA supports advanced AI/ML applications, helping BBVA create innovative digital solutions like advanced fraud detection systems and standout offerings like personalized services.

AI-powered mobile banking app

BBVA has taken a major step forward in digital banking with the launch of its revamped mobile app. The new version introduces several advanced features designed to make banking services smarter and more personalized:

• Blue, BBVA’s virtual assistant, has been upgraded with AI to handle natural language questions and provide instant customer support.
• AI-powered financial coach gives personalized advice by analyzing vast amounts of customer data (income, expenses, savings, etc.)
• Digital wallet integration provides quick access to cards and supports seamless contactless payments.

On top of that, BBVA enhanced the app’s security by introducing a “discreet mode.” With user permission, the device’s camera can detect it when more than one face is viewing the screen. If this is the case, the app automatically hides sensitive information like balances and transactions.

Digital sales model

The BBVA’s new digital sales model is a structured, end-to-end approach aimed at simplifying customer acquisition and boosting engagement through digital channels. Its key elements include:

• AI-powered onboarding, allowing customers to open accounts within minutes via mobile.
• Personalized product recommendations based on AI analysis of each customer’s financial situation and needs.
• Data-driven decision-making enabled by deep insights into customer behavior and preferences.

This model has delivered measurable results: as of 2023, 70% of BBVA’s sales happened through online channels, and 65% of new customers joined digitally. It also supports operational efficiency, contributing to a cost-to-income ratio of 41.7%, a standout figure in the European banking sector.

Lloyds Banking Group

Lloyds Banking Group is one of the leading financial organizations in the UK, serving approximately 30 million customers through well-known brands such as Lloyds Bank, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland. Since 2021, the group has been driving a large-scale digital banking transformation, investing over £4 billion (about $5.42 billion) to upgrade its technology and operations.

IT setup modernization

Lloyds has decommissioned over 500 legacy applications and migrated around 46% of its digital tools to cloud environments. It also implemented a next-generation core banking engine that now manages around £1 billion ($1.35 billion) in deposits. This allowed the group to simplify its IT infrastructure, achieve significant cost savings in the tech domain, and enhance business agility.

Major shift to digital banking

In January 2025, Lloyds Banking Group announced it would close 136 branches across the UK. The decision was driven by a sharp decline in face-to-face transactions, which decreased by an average of 48% over the past five years. It also reflects the company’s broader strategy to adapt to the growing demand for online banking.

To prepare for this shift, Lloyds has been strengthening its digital services. In 2024, for example, it introduced major upgrades to its mobile app. These enhancements gave customers more tools and flexibility to manage their finances independently.

AI initiatives

Lloyds is actively exploring how AI can improve various areas of its business, from customer service to fraud detection. To accelerate these efforts, it partnered with Google Cloud and migrated to the Vertex AI platform. This helped them launch over 80 new ML use cases and deploy more than 18 generative AI systems into production.

While it’s still early to measure the long-term results of these AI initiatives, early signs are encouraging. For instance, Lloyds reports that using AI for mortgage income verification has cut processing times from weeks to just seconds.

DBS Bank

Singapore-based DBS Bank is one of Asia’s leading financial service providers. It operates in 19 markets, including China, India, and Indonesia, and serves around 19 million customers. DBS began its transformation process in 2014 with a clear goal: to become “digital to the core.” Since then, it has rolled out a series of strategic initiatives focused on adopting new technologies, improving process agility, and enhancing the customer experience.

ADA and ALAN platforms

ADA and ALAN are two key solutions that have played a major role in making DBS one of the strongest digital transformation examples in banking. ADA is DBS’s internal data platform that serves as a single source of truth across the organization. ALAN is the bank’s standardized AI protocol and knowledge hub, giving teams access to past use cases, data sets, and ML techniques. 

This setup enables DBS engineers to develop and deploy AI models much faster. As of 2024, the bank had scaled to over 800 models and 350 use cases.

Personalized services

With support from its ADA and ALAN platforms, DBS uses AI to deliver highly personalized experiences. By analyzing more than 15,000 data points per user, the bank generates smart recommendations to help customers make better financial decisions. These might include reminders about upcoming payments to avoid fees or suggestions for investments that match a customer’s risk profile. In Singapore alone, over 3.5 million customers receive around 30 million of these personalized recommendations every month.

Fraud detection and risk management

DBS uses AI to strengthen its fraud detection efforts. Its models are trained on over 300 features and 10 data sources, allowing the bank to flag high-risk transactions in just 25 milliseconds. This fast, data-driven approach helped DBS prevent 17% more scam-related losses.

AI also assists DBS with credit risk management. In 2022, the bank detected over 95% of SME loans likely to default well in advance, at least three months before those businesses showed signs of financial trouble. Thanks to early warning, DBS took proactive steps that helped avert risk for more than 80% of identified customers.

Citi

Citi is another leader in the financial services industry with a successful digital transformation strategy. With its headquarters in New York, the bank operates in nearly 180 countries and supports millions of customers through its retail, commercial, and investment banking services. In 2021, Citi launched a comprehensive modernization and technology adoption program to cut costs and improve efficiency.

IT infrastructure rehaul

IT infrastructure modernization is the foundation of Citi’s digital transformation efforts. Since 2022, the bank has retired more than 1,250 legacy applications. The aim was to simplify the technology stack, reduce operational complexity, and improve data governance. 

In 2024, it took another major step forward by migrating multiple applications to Google Cloud. This move is expected to help the bank streamline workflows, refine its products, and meet high-performance computing demands, especially in Citi’s Markets business, where millions of computations are processed daily.

AI-powered digital tools

Citi is actively tapping into the growing AI market trend by rolling out advanced digital tools across its operations. It has recently made Citi Assist and Citi Stylus available to around 140,000 employees in eight countries. These solutions help the bank’s staff navigate internal policies and summarize documents, working more productively.

Beyond everyday tasks, Citi has embedded AI into its software development process. In particular, the bank has used generative AI to power over 220,000 automated code reviews.

TD Bank

Headquartered in Toronto, TD Bank Group serves over 10 million customers in Canada and another 6.5 million in the US. In 2018, it acquired AI firm Layer 6 to enhance its machine learning and data analytics capabilities. These investments have paid off: TD was named “Best Consumer Digital Bank in North America” by Global Finance for four consecutive years, recognized for its leadership in digital innovation.

By now, the bank has developed nearly 50 AI solutions across various business lines and filed over 450 AI-related patent applications. 

AI-powered mortgage approvals

In August 2023, TD launched an AI model to speed up mortgage and home equity line of credit (HELOC) pre-approvals. For straightforward applications, the system can deliver decisions within seconds of submission, freeing up underwriters to focus on more complex cases. 

Since its rollout, thousands of customers have benefited from faster and more seamless mortgage experiences, reinforcing TD’s reputation as a client-centered financial service provider.

Generative AI virtual assistants

TD developed a generative AI virtual assistant to make its contact center operations more efficient and improve customer service. The assistant provides frontline staff with summarized responses in conversational language, including links to relevant TD policies and procedures. Early testing has shown promising results, including a 20% reduction in hold times.

Accelerate digital transformation in banking with Neontri

In today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape, the pressure is on: banks that fail to innovate risk being left behind. But true transformation requires more than ambition; it demands the right expertise. At Neontri, we bring deep industry knowledge and 10+ years of experience in banking software development to help financial institutions navigate change with confidence.

From modernizing legacy systems to launching secure mobile platforms and AI-powered analytics, we empower banks to unlock the full potential of digital transformation. Our team bridges technology with strategy, enabling faster go-to-market, improved compliance, and seamless customer journeys.

Join leading financial institutions, including PKO Bank Polski, KIR, and Visa, that trust Neontri to deliver future-ready banking solutions. Let’s build the digital bank of tomorrow—today.

Final thoughts 

The scope of digital transformation may differ from one bank to another, depending on their technology maturity, strategy, and goals. But one thing is clear: to stay competitive in today’s financial industry, continuous innovation is a must. While this requires time and investment, many digital transformation examples in banking prove that they fully pay off, driving operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and cost savings.

Ready to future-proof your bank? Let’s discuss how Neontri can support your digital transformation projects.