Marketing in financial services has always been complex, but 2025 brings a new level of pressure. Tightening regulations, rising compliance expectations, increased scrutiny from regulators, and a wave of new competitors mean marketing teams must work smarter, faster and with more control.
Budgets are also under pressure. According to Gartner’s 2024 Financial Services Marketing Budget Benchmark, marketing investment has tightened again, dropping to around 7% of company revenue.
https://www.gartner.com/en/marketing/research/financial-services-marketing-budget-benchmark
At the same time, customer expectations continue to grow. Taboola’s 2025 Financial Services Marketing Trends report found that 71% of consumers now expect personalised interactions — and more than half prefer mobile banking as their primary channel.
https://www.taboola.com/marketing-hub/financial-services-marketing-trends
To meet these demands safely, many organisations are turning to structured marketing operations and marketing compliance platforms that streamline workflows, reduce risk and provide the visibility teams need in a regulated environment.
Below are the biggest challenges facing financial-services marketers today — and how marketing operations platforms help them work with greater accuracy and confidence.
Competition continues to intensify with digital banks, insurtechs, fintechs and new investment products entering the market. With more choice available, customers have higher expectations and lower switching barriers.
Marketing teams are expected to deliver more campaigns, faster, while adhering to strict regulatory requirements.
A strong marketing operations solution helps teams:
With clearer workflows and less friction, teams can increase output without increasing risk.
Trust remains a major challenge for banks, insurers and wealth providers. Investor’s Business Daily’s 2025 Consumer Trust Survey found that confidence in financial institutions remains fragile, with customers demanding clearer and more consistent communication.
Customers now expect:
A structured approval workflow helps teams deliver reliable messaging by ensuring:
Clear, controlled communication is one of the strongest ways to rebuild trust in a regulated industry.
Regulatory expectations continue to intensify. According to Piper Alderman’s 2024 Financial Services & Fintech Review, regulator focus across ASIC, APRA and ACCC has increased, with greater scrutiny on communications, product information and digital risk.
Further, Protiviti’s 2024 Compliance Outlook highlights rising pressure on organisations to monitor digital communication, maintain complete audit trails and ensure operational resilience.
https://www.protiviti.com/au-en/whitepaper/top-of-mind-compliance-issues-financial-institutions-2024
For marketing teams, the risk areas include:
Marketing compliance software addresses these challenges by embedding compliance into every workflow.
Teams gain:
For deeper guidance, see our guide to mastering marketing compliance.
According to GenAI’s 2024 analysis, automating compliance checks can reduce approval cycles by over 20%.
Financial-services organisations rely on large, interconnected systems — CRM, campaign tools, underwriting platforms, analytics stacks and more. But these systems are often siloed.
This makes it difficult for marketing leaders to:
McKinsey’s State of Brand & Marketing Operations report shows that companies with strong marketing operations frameworks deliver faster speed-to-market and lower compliance risk.
https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/the-state-of-brand-and-marketing-operations
Marketing operations platforms centralise:
Creating a single operational view increases accountability and helps teams work more predictably.
Brand governance is especially critical in regulated industries. With multiple teams, agencies and regional offices involved, the risk of outdated or off-brand content slipping through is high.
A centralised digital asset library helps teams:
This is increasingly important as regulators pay closer attention to communication governance. Reuters’ 2024 analysis revealed that 63% of financial organisations are not adequately monitoring staff messaging apps — creating untracked communication and potential compliance exposure.
Marketing operations gives teams the control they need to maintain accuracy, brand consistency and compliance across every channel.
The Bottom Line
Financial-services marketing teams are operating in an environment of rising compliance expectations, tight budgets, increasing scrutiny and complex customer needs.
Marketing operations — through stronger workflows, compliance integration and structured approvals — helps teams:
The Admation is designed for marketing teams in regulated industries, helping them deliver compliant, high-quality work with confidence.
To learn more or speak with a specialist, you can book a discovery session with our team.