Conference speech | ISMA 2026
On October 7, 2026, I will present my ISMA 2026 conference speech, Digital Banking Under High Inflation: From Deposit Marketing to Trusted Financial Relationship Management in Iran.
The presentation examines a practical question for banks operating under severe inflation: what should digital banking marketing do when a nominal deposit rate is no longer enough to answer the customer’s real financial concern? In this environment, a customer is not simply asking whether a deposit balance will grow. The deeper question is what that money will be able to do for the household after prices, liquidity needs, and uncertainty are considered.
From Deposit Renewal to Trusted Advice
The central argument of the speech is that digital banking should move beyond a narrow deposit-renewal campaign. A banking app that only says “renew today” may be technologically functional, but it does not necessarily provide a useful financial conversation. Under high inflation, the customer needs clearer information about purchasing power, liquidity, uncertainty, and the trade-offs among financial choices.
My paper extends the Institutional-Monetary Digital Trust Framework into IMDTF 2.1. The extension adds a trusted advisory bridge between digital banking capability and long-term relationship retention. The goal is not to claim that digital banking can solve inflation. It cannot manufacture monetary credibility. But it can help a bank remain useful, transparent, and accountable when customers face difficult financial decisions.
Four Layers of Trust
The presentation separates four forms of trust: monetary trust, institutional trust, bank or brand trust, and digital and data trust. This distinction matters because a bank has more direct control over service quality, data protection, clear explanations, and accountable help than over the purchasing power of the currency itself.
Relationship Retention Is Not the Same as Deposit Retention
A key idea in the speech is the difference between keeping a customer relationship and retaining every investment deposit. A customer may continue trusting and using a bank while changing how savings are allocated. For managers, this distinction matters: a lower long-term deposit balance is not automatically evidence that the digital channel or brand has failed.
The proposed approach is trusted financial relationship management. It uses real-value transparency, permissioned data, AI-enabled financial-health tools, and human advisory escalation for consequential decisions. The bank’s role is not to manipulate customers into every renewal, but to help them understand the decision and remain a reliable financial operating system through uncertainty.
A Disciplined Pilot Before Scaling
The speech recommends starting small: for example, with customers approaching a deposit maturity and facing a near-term liquidity need. A controlled pilot should test whether customers understand nominal return, purchasing power, liquidity, and uncertainty better than they would under ordinary maturity communication. It should also measure relationship retention, deposit behavior, successful handoffs, complaints, cost, and funding effects.
The central message is simple: under high inflation, trust is not a slogan. It is produced by transparent information, appropriate advice, secure data use, human accountability, and economic usefulness. The future of digital banking is not merely to keep the customer’s money. It is to earn the customer’s confidence in the next financial decision.
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