Loyalty Reimagined with Starling Bank: Closing the Gap Between Payments and Customer Experience

Customer loyalty is much more than points and perks. Ruwani Hewa, Director of Payments at Starling Bank, jumps in the Hot Seat to discuss how data-driven intelligence is redefining what it means to build trust in financial services. We explore where traditional banks go wrong, how customer understanding can reshape engagement, and why digital design and personalisation now determine retention. This episode is about turning data into meaningful, measurable relationships.

Key Takeaways.

[:01] Denise Johansson puts Ruwani Hewa, Director of Payments at Starling Bank, in the hot seat. [3:52] Ruwani introduces herself and explains why this topic resonates with her so much. [4:58] What is loyalty? Ruwani offers an example of how Starling stepped up to protect a customer and create a new gold standard. [6:38] Using customer data to get to know them is one thing, but finding ways to support them with this information may be key to building loyalty and trust. [8:52] Loyalty isn't transactional; anchoring the data with the relevant needs and providing seamless experiences will go a long way to providing services that customers will be loyal to. [10:44] Ruwani explains how to retain customers in a world where switching is really easy and why working with partners can also help drive trust and loyalty. [11:28] Credit or Insta? How engaging different generations requires entirely different strategies. [14:01] How companies outside of the financial sector are building trust and loyalty. [15:07] UX and UI are super important; Ruwani touches on the tech she thinks is critical to engagement. [16:44] Ruwani offers ways to track customer engagement within your loyalty programs. [19:10] What the loyalty and financial services landscape will look like in the coming years. [21:25] How AI fits into the loyalty landscape. [22:22] Denise signs out until the next time she puts an industry leader in the hot seat.

People.

Guest Ruwani Hewa, Director of Payments at Starling Bank, one of the UK's most innovative digital banks, changing banking for good. Host Denise Johansson, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Enfuce, a female-founded fintech helping drive business growth, solve customer challenges, and extend financial inclusion.

Links.

Starling Bank Enfuce

Guest Quotes (edited).

Banks are sitting on this gold mine of data to actually really understand the customer and customer segments. We can see life stages and different changes in someone's life based on what's happening in