How Zappi helps financial teams stay ahead of shifting trust signals

Trust in financial services is rising, but it’s still slippery. One good interaction lifts confidence. One moment of friction drags it down.

Modern consumers move quickly, and algorithms easily sway their reactions. For financial analysts, this is where outdated thinking gets in the way.

Old beliefs include:

• The belief that trust moves slowly.

• The belief that strong scores mean safety.

• The belief that fintech competitors always hold the advantage.

These ideas might feel familiar, but real-time behavior tells a different story. Trust shifts happen in hours, not quarters, so signals move fast. 

This pace is why analysts need immediate, accurate visibility into what moved, why it moved and how to stabilize confidence before negative sentiment spreads.

In this article, I break down four forces reshaping financial brand performance: Shifting trust, challenger competition, regulatory pressure and the need for analyst-ready clarity. Let’s dive in.  

Global trust in financial services is improving, but it’s far from stable. Edelman reports that global trust in financial services rose two points in 2025 to 64%. 

But higher trust does not mean steady trust. The forces shaping perception are uneven, and they differ sharply by segment, channel and moment.

Consumers still question fairness, fee transparency and data protection. In the United States, only half of consumers say they trust banks “to do what is right,” and cybersecurity concerns remain a major source of doubt.

For analysts, the challenge is not identifying whether trust is high or low. It’s explaining why trust moved, who changed their opinion and where volatility is emerging before quarterly indicators catch up.

Continuous tracking surfaces early signals, such as:

• A surge in negative social sentiment after a service disruption

• A dip in trust among younger customers following a policy update

• A shift in perceptions between the branch and app experience

Teams need a real-time read on how trust behaves day to day.

Analyst takeaway: A high trust score isn’t protection. Knowing how to interpret real-time signals to protect your brand is.

Fintech challengers are no longer niche disruptors. In 2025, they’re scalable, fast-growing and reshaping consumer expectations for financial services.

QED Investors and Boston Consulting Group report that global fintech revenues grew 21% in 2024, outpacing traditional financial services by several times. Scaled fintechs generating $500 million or more in annual revenue now account for 60% of all sector revenue, which means challengers are not just quick. They are big.

This shows up in brand perception. Consumers connect fintechs with clarity, fairness, speed and seamless digital experiences.

Revolut surpassed fifty million customers in 2024, and SoFi has reported improved customer satisfaction after simplifying loan decisioning and expanding no-fee features. These improvements build trust because consumers reward anything that reduces friction.

Their approach is straightforward:

• Clear pricing

• Fast onboarding

• Frictionless support

• Real-time problem resolution

But scale does not guarantee lasting trust.

In October 2025, Chime experienced a major outage that prevented customers from accessing paychecks or making payments, prompting thousands of real-time complaints.

Revolut has topped UK rankings for authorized push-payment fraud complaints in 2024 and 2025. As fintechs scale, this visibility increases, and their margin for error shrinks. 

This shifting reality requires agility from challenger brands.

To help leadership respond, analysts need insight into:

• What drives trust at each stage of the journey

• Which features or messages resonate most

• How fintechs frame speed and simplicity

• Where incumbents deliver strength but fail to communicate it

You’re not just tracking brand perception. You’re informing the narrative leadership uses to make decisions. 

Analyst takeaway: Challenger brands can win on speed, but resilience wins long term. 

Finance operates under constant scrutiny and the regulatory environment has intensified over the past two years. Institutions face growing expectations around transparency, data handling, operational resilience and the accuracy of consumer-facing claims.

Quarterly reporting cannot keep pace. Sentiment can shift overnight after a new disclosure, a policy update, a privacy headline or even a misinterpreted social post.

Recent analyses show how quickly the ground is moving.

A Deloitte study shows that regulators are intensifying oversight of governance, risk controls and operational resilience across global markets. Meanwhile, the World Bank reports expanding consumer-protection and data-privacy expectations for digital financial services, especially as more activity moves online.

Continuous tracking helps analysts:

• Detect compliance-related sentiment shifts

• Surface early risk signals

• See how policy changes affect trust

• Support leadership with real-time, defensible insight

This is where Zappi helps. Always-on brand measurement and Brand Health Snapshots surface shifts in sentiment, message clarity and risk themes within minutes, not months. Analysts get early indicators they can act on and a clearer story to bring to compliance and leadership teams.

Real-time visibility is no longer optional. It’s how financial brands build resilience.

Analysts manage both risk and opportunity as regulatory pressure expands.

Analyst takeaway: Real-time clarity keeps you ahead.

Zappi gives finance teams a real-time view of how trust and brand perception move across channels and customer segments. Every signal is designed to help analysts act faster, explain shifts sooner and support leadership with data they can stand behind.

Always-on measurement of brand health, trust and consideration

Track sentiment across app, branch, web and social channels without waiting for the next reporting cycle.

In 2024, many U.S. banks updated account fee structures, and several changes went viral on TikTok, creating confusion and negative sentiment in hours.

Zappi provides the tools to quickly see whether the changes are clear or confusing.

Brand Health Snapshots for an instant view of your brand’s health

An instant point-in-time view of your brand’s health is ideal for testing new markets or filling short-term knowledge gaps.

Built with the same brand science as Zappi’s continuous tracker, these snapshots give users a single-wave view of what's going on right now in your category.

60% more predictive accuracy than traditional brand trackers

Zappi’s methodology provides analysts with early indicators rather than backward-looking metrics. When SoFi simplified loan decisioning and expanded no-fee features, customer satisfaction rose, but only because the messaging aligned with consumers' beliefs about the brand. Predictive diagnostics help teams validate that alignment before launch.

Finance-specific benchmarks for incumbents and fintech disruptors

Compare results to traditional banks, regional players and fast-growing fintechs. For instance, if a challenger bank sees rising trust among Gen Z but lags with older, higher-value customers. Benchmarks indicate that this pattern mirrors that of other fintechs, helping leadership set more realistic expectations.

Benchmarks built for finance

Compare your performance against:

• Traditional banks

• Fintech challengers

• Regional trust leaders

Inside one platform, everything aligns: Speed, rigor and security. With faster signals, you can develop a smarter strategy and avoid surprises.