Beyond Products: Reimagining financial services offerings for the client-centric era

The shift from fragmented financial solutions to simplified, end-to-end value propositions is no longer theoretical — it's underway. Here’s what it means for the future of banking and markets.

Across the financial services landscape, a quiet revolution is taking place. Banks are reimagining how they present, organise, and deliver their services. At the heart of this shift is a powerful but under-leveraged idea: rethinking offerings with a front-to-back client value stream lens and moving away from a product-first approach.

Large universal banks like J.P. Morgan and HSBC, as well as niche players, are increasingly restructuring to better reflect their unique value propositions and deliver more integrated client experiences. While naming conventions and hierarchies vary, the momentum is unmistakable — a redefinition of commercial, corporate, investment banking, and market offerings from standalone products to cohesive value propositions.

Why the Shift?

This transformation isn’t driven by marketing alone — it’s a response to evolving client expectations.

Today’s financial clients demand:

• Simplicity
• Speed
• Contextual relevance

A treasurer doesn’t want to navigate five departments to optimise liquidity.
A global asset manager doesn’t want to separately integrate FX, custody, and securities finance.
They want solutions that anticipate interconnected needs — not just isolated capabilities.

Where the Industry Stands Today

Despite the shift, the industry is still in the early stages of delivering truly client-centric value propositions.

Our comparative research across nine global banks reveals a patchwork of approaches:

• Some elevate specific offerings (like FX or liquidity) as standalone businesses, while others embed them within broader solutions.
• Universal banks like Citi and BNP align front-end structuring with internal reporting — but many custodians and regionals still show internal-external disconnects.
• Few have developed a fully standardised, scalable model, though most recognise the need.

The Cultural Challenge

This isn’t just about architecture — it’s also about culture.
Shifting from product-centric to client-centric means more than renaming divisions.
It requires a fundamental change in mindset:

Value must be defined by the outcome delivered to the client — not by the sum of isolated product silos.

What Leading Institutions Do Differently

Some of the most successful shifts we’ve seen are not wholesale restructures but acts of strategic coherence.
The leading firms:

• Simplify: Reduce high-level offerings into intuitive clusters.
• Elevate: Highlight cross-functional solutions that reflect real client needs, even when they span internal boundaries.
• Align: Ensure that marketing, operational, and reporting structures reinforce — not contradict — the unique value proposition.

Strategic Benefits of Client-Centric Structuring

Moving toward unified offerings yields tangible benefits:

• Improved cross-sell
• Faster, smoother onboarding
• Latent synergies between business lines unlocked

More importantly, banks transition from being product vendors to strategic partners — a critical advantage in an era where clients benchmark against both Fintechs and non-financial industries.

There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Model

A universal bank with a prime brokerage business will evolve differently than a regional custodian.
But the principle remains:

Start from the client — not the product.

Many firms will benefit from a hybrid model — maintaining key product capabilities while reorganising around client value streams. The key is deliberate, coherent structuring.

Too often, we see inconsistent positioning — FX, payments, lending, and trading spread across multiple disconnected silos. This creates confusion for clients and internal teams alike.

A Strategic Question for Banks

At the highest level, banks should ask:

Are your services structured to reflect your unique strengths and market positioning — in a way that’s meaningful to your target clients?

Conclusion: It’s Not a Branding Exercise. It’s a Strategic Imperative.

In the coming years, leaders in Banking and Markets will be those that:

• Break legacy structures
• Embrace fluid, client-led models
• Deliver coherent value propositions that span across product lines

Those who delay may find themselves overtaken not just by Fintechs — but by agile incumbents who had the courage to organise around their clients, not their org chart.