JB Orecchia is the President and CEO of SavvyMoney.
Over half of Americans feel overwhelmed by their finances. They’re stressed, actively researching financial products and making decisions about where to borrow, save and invest. Many are in-market right now, comparing rates online, walking into dealerships and opening accounts with fintechs—often without considering the institution where they already bank.
This may sound like consumers aren’t loyal to their institutions, but it’s really a personalization and ease of transacting problem. Financial institutions today have access to more information about their consumers than any fintech competitor: transaction history, credit behavior, product engagement, in-market signals. Institutions that learn to act on that data, delivering the right guidance and offer at the right moment while making transacting easy, will win wallet share. Those that don’t will keep watching their consumers open accounts elsewhere.
The Value Of Primacy
Banking primacy is not just receiving a direct deposit into their checking account. It’s the mortgage, business line of credit, savings account a consumer opens when they get their first bonus and investment account they think about when they start retirement planning. It’s every financial decision a consumer makes over a lifetime. The question every institution should be asking is if they are top of mind during these decision-making processes.
Institutions that earn full primacy see higher product adoption, stronger retention and more ROI per household. But a narrow slice of the relationship—a direct deposit here, a debit card there—leaves valuable transactions on the table. Expanding that relationship across lending, deposits and financial wellness is the difference between being a consumer’s bank and being their financial home.
The Leaky Bucket
The gap between where primacy stands and where it could be is wider than most institutions realize. Research from Alkami found that consumers define their primary institution simply as the one where they most often use their debit card, meaning an institution can technically hold primacy as a consumer finances a car, opens a credit card and refinances a mortgage somewhere else.
This is the leaky bucket problem. Consumers aren’t leaving—they’re staying and quietly taking their most valuable financial decisions elsewhere. And the loyalty keeping them in place is shallower than it looks. According to FICO’s “Bank Customer Experience Survey,” only 16% of consumers say they would never change banks. Nearly half (47%) would switch their primary institution for better value and 34% for a better customer experience.
In practice, that means a lower rate, a higher yield or an application that takes two minutes instead of 12. But most institutions never find out which one it was. Was it the rate? The application experience? A competitor’s pre-approval arriving at exactly the right moment? Each of those has a different fix, and without visibility into where consumers are going and why, institutions are left managing symptoms instead of solving problems.
Meeting Consumers Where They Are
Primacy is won through relevance. Putting a consumer’s first name at the start of the email is no longer enough. So what does relevance look like? It’s knowing their credit profile, their financial goals and where they are in their financial life—and using that knowledge to deliver education and offers that actually fit their situation.
The expectation is already there: 67% of Gen-Z consumers want personalized financial recommendations tailored to their actual credit profile, current financial situation and life stage, according to a recent SavvyMoney survey. These younger consumers expect their financial institution to know them and guide them—not just market to them.
That guidance begins with financial wellness. Consumers who understand their credit, track their score and receive personalized education are more engaged and more likely to transact. And as their financial wellness improves, the rates they qualify for go down—having a real impact on their ability to build wealth over time. The lending opportunity follows naturally from there. When a consumer’s financial picture improves, the right offer and relevant savings at the right moment convert intention into action. Without that context, it’s just a loan offer they’ll click away from and forget.
Letting Data Drive Decisions
Financial institutions (FIs) hold a unique advantage: years of relationship data on their consumer base that no new market entrant can replicate. The question is whether they’re using it.
FIs serious about primacy are already tracking which consumers engaged with an offer, where they ultimately transacted and whether that loan was funded internally or at a competitor. That visibility turns a hidden revenue problem into an actionable one. When a consumer shops for an auto loan and finances it at a dealership, the missed transaction provides a valuable signal. Was it the product features? The underwriting criteria? The answer informs strategy in ways that broad-based outreach never could.
In Practice: A Credit Union Client
One credit union my company worked with put this approach into practice. Rather than casting a wide net, the credit union shifted to a data-driven, targeted strategy, building laser-focused lead lists, identifying members with loans held at competing institutions and benchmarking their rates against the market to stay competitive.
The results were significant. Adoption reached 91%. Average monthly loan volume increased 67%. The credit union didn’t grow by chasing new members but by deepening relationships with the ones it already had.
When you empower members to understand their finances, you empower your institution to grow.
The Path Forward
The formula for primacy is clear: financial wellness, personalized offers and competitive awareness combined with a streamlined application process. Not separately, but together, as part of a single, connected consumer experience.
Winning wallet share in 2026 means connecting credit score insights to timely, relevant offers and following through with a lending and deposit experience that meets consumers where they are. These financial institutions will know when a consumer is in-market. They’ll know what that consumer needs. And they’ll be ready with the right product before that consumer looks somewhere else.
Financial institutions are competing harder than ever for consumer loyalty. Using data to deliver the right product at the right moment is the primacy imperative.
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