Behavioural Science x AI: Personalisation in Financial Services

In our Distinctive Insights series on the intersection of behavioural science and AI in financial services, we are examining how these methods are being combined to address practical challenges. In this post, we turn to personalised banking and financial services.

Business Issues

Encouraging customers to save, budget effectively, or make healthier financial decisions has always been a challenge for banks.

Traditional tools, such as account alerts or static savings plans, provide information but rarely change behaviour in a sustained way.

Behavioural theory says that people tend to:

🔹 Prioritise immediate consumption over long-term security.

🔹 Compartmentalise money into separate “mental accounts.”

🔹 Be influenced by how choices are framed or by what their peers are doing.

These are deeply human biases, but they are not fixed. Information and feedback can shift behaviour and help customers make more sustainable financial choices.

Real World Solution Case Study

RiseUp uses Open Banking and AI to close this gap through personalised consumer offers.

📌 Ingests live transaction data through Open Banking connections.

📌 Creates a rich customer profile based on unified and dynamic view of household cash flow.

📌 Uses predictive models to forecast short-term outcomes and highlight affordability windows relevant to specific products or services.

📌 Detects key moments each month, such as payday, spending patterns, or idle funds, when action is both possible and effective.

The distinctive capability lies in its moment-based design. Predictive AI models are used to detect the right timing for interventions. By linking insights directly to personal offers, customers can act at the precise moment when financial capacity exists.

📊 Data & AI foundation: open banking for live data feeds, machine learning for forecasting and moment detection for intent.

📊 Behavioural science concepts: present bias, mental accounting, and social norms are embedded into the design of nudges and personal offers.

Benefits

The goal of here is to help financial institutions increase conversion, lift revenue and improve customer engagement and loyalty. For customers, this should lead to building more resilient financial habits and assets through timely, personalised offers.