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UK consumers want different things from a financial brand depending on their generation. STRAT7 research across four UK generations shows that Gen Z customers prioritise help reaching immediate goals, Millennials prioritise brands that enable bigger ambitions, while Gen X and Boomers place greater emphasis on reliability and institutions that do what they say.
Beneath these brand preferences, trust now means different things by generation, and switching propensity has shifted in ways most financial services brands have not yet caught up with.
About the research
This article draws on STRAT7’s 2026 UK consumer research into what people across four generations want from a financial brand. The study used a quantitative survey of a nationally representative sample of UK adults, with quotas on age, region, and gender. Respondents covered Gen Z (16-27), Millennials (28-43), Gen X (44-59), and Boomer (60+) cohorts and were asked about switching propensity, financial confidence, brand promise preferences, trust attitudes, image-based brand associations, and interest in product features. The full report is authored by Jane Passey, Director, STRAT7 Jigsaw.
Key findings
- 58% of UK Millennials would consider switching their financial provider, the highest switching propensity of any generation in the research.
- 54% of UK Gen Z would consider switching their bank, the second-highest switching propensity in the research.
- 44% of UK Gen X would consider switching, with the lowest long-term financial confidence of any generation.
- 35% of UK Boomers would consider switching, a figure that has grown considerably over the past five years.
- Gen Z and Millennials prefer brands that signal progress and advancement. Gen X and Boomers prefer brands that signal reliability and consistency.
- Trust differs by generation. Younger generations are more likely to start from a position of trust and prefer summaries over detail. Older generations are more cautious and want institutional proof.
- Gen X is the most overlooked generation in UK financial services marketing, with the largest confidence gap relative to Boomers in the dataset.
What is the generation gap in financial services?
The generation gap in financial services is the widening divergence in what UK consumers expect from a financial brand depending on their age. STRAT7 research across four generations of UK adults shows that consumers, regardless of age, now lead with the same opening question: “what’s in it for me?” Their answers, however, diverge in three distinct ways:
- Gen Z are looking for help reaching immediate goals and signs of progress.
- Millennials want brands that help turn longer-term ambitions into reality.
- Gen X and Boomers place greater emphasis on reliability, proof, and institutions that do what they say they will.
What do Gen Z customers want from a financial brand?
Gen Z customers want a financial brand that helps them reach their immediate goals. On the attitudinal measures in the survey, they are more willing than older generations to grant financial institutions the benefit of the doubt, and they prefer benefit-first messaging over proof-first explanation. 54% of UK Gen Z would consider switching their bank, the second-highest switching propensity in the research after Millennials. They expect lifestyle benefits beyond a basic account, including bundles, perks, goal-tracking tools, and integration with the apps they use daily.
What do Millennials want from a financial brand?
Millennials want a financial brand that turns their ambitions into reality. They share Gen Z’s preference for partnership-style relationships and goal-oriented features, with longer time horizons attached to those ambitions. 58% of UK Millennials would consider switching their financial provider, the highest switching propensity of any generation in the research. Their preferred brand promise frames the brand as an enabler of bigger life goals rather than immediate ones, and they expect financial brands to fit into the wider lifestyle context of how they spend, save, and plan.
What do Gen X customers want from a financial brand?
Gen X customers want a financial brand that does what it says it will. They are more cautious, more self-reliant, and want proof rather than reassurance. They are the generation least confident about achieving their long-term financial goals across every question we asked. 44% of UK Gen X would consider switching their financial provider, the lowest switching propensity of any generation younger than Boomers. The Gen X situation is characterised by mid-career financial complexity, including school-age dependents, ageing parents, retirement timing concerns, and limited remaining runway to retry strategies that have not worked.
What do Boomer customers want from a financial brand?
Boomer customers want a financial brand that does what it says it will and protects their money. They share Gen X’s preferred brand promise but typically come from a position of greater accumulated wealth and financial confidence. They want predictable and conservative rather than fun and exciting. 35% of UK Boomers would consider switching their financial provider, a figure that has grown markedly over the past five years. This is the surprise finding of the research. The assumption that older generations are loyal customers of their existing bank is no longer well-supported by the UK data.
How willing are different generations to switch their financial provider?
UK Millennials are the most willing generation to switch their financial provider, with 58% saying they would consider it. Gen Z sits at 54%, Gen X at 44%, and Boomers at 35%. The Boomer figure has grown considerably over the past five years, signalling a recent change in how older customers view the institution they bank with. The traditional assumption that older generations represent retention-only opportunities is now contradicted by the data.
Why does trust mean different things across generations?
Trust now means two different things in UK financial services depending on the generation asking. The attitudinal measures in the survey show that for Gen Z and Millennial customers, trust is assumed. They start a customer relationship willing to defer to financial expertise and prefer short summaries over detailed disclosures. For Gen X and Boomer customers, trust is demonstrated. They want to see how the institution operates, who regulates it, what happens when something goes wrong, and whether the small print backs up the headline claim. Messaging built around “trust us” language is wasted copy on the younger half of the customer base, and read as overclaim by the older half if not backed by visible proof.
What is the Progress vs Peace framework in financial services?
The Progress vs Peace framework is STRAT7’s term for the two halves of how UK consumers want a financial brand to make them feel. When shown a set of images and asked which one captured how they wanted their financial provider to make them feel, Gen Z and Millennials selected images suggesting progress and advancement, with the example used in the research being a man in the first class lounge of a plane. Gen X and Boomers selected images suggesting peace and stillness, with the chosen image being a calm horizon over the sea. The framework gives financial services marketing teams a usable brief. Brand work should pick one mode per moment of engagement rather than averaging across both, and the same brand can run Progress campaigns at one audience and Peace campaigns at a different audience without contradicting itself.
How should banks position themselves across UK generations?
Banks should split their brand messaging by trust mode rather than by age band. Younger generations respond to benefit-first messaging that leads with what the customer gets from the relationship. Older generations respond to proof-first messaging that leads with what the institution does and how reliably it does it. The same product can be promoted using two clearly different framings without diluting the brand. Most UK financial services marketing currently runs one brand line across all generations and quietly under-converts both audiences. Brands that lead with reliability messaging in their main brand work, such as Nationwide’s fairer share programme, demonstrate one alternative approach.
Why is Gen X the most overlooked generation in UK financial services?
Gen X is the most overlooked generation in UK financial services because most campaign briefs treat them as either ‘older Millennials’ or ‘younger Boomers’, almost never as their own audience. They have the lowest long-term financial confidence of any generation and the most pronounced confidence gap from Boomers in the dataset. The product roadmap has the same gap as the marketing brief. Wealth advisory products over-index to Boomers, goal-driven savings tools over-index to Millennials and Gen Z, and the Gen X situation, with simultaneous assets and debt, dependents pulling in two directions, and a retirement visible but not yet trusted, does not resolve into a clean target customer for product teams to brief against.
What is the biggest mistake banks are making with generational messaging?
The biggest mistake UK banks risk making is focusing so heavily on Gen Z that they lose relevance with older generations. STRAT7’s research found that Gen X and Boomers place greater value on reliability and proof, while many financial brands have shifted towards more youth-oriented positioning. Over time, this can create a disconnect between a brand and some of its most commercially valuable customers.
About the author
- Jane Passey
- Director, STRAT7 Jigsaw
Jane is a mixed methods research director at STRAT7 Jigsaw, where she partners with clients across industries and regions to bring their customers closer into view. From uncovering emerging trends to identifying whitespace and refining brand positioning, she helps organisations make confident, insight-led decisions. She’s especially passionate about combining methodologies to craft meaningful insights and tell powerful, engaging stories.