Community banks play a crucial role with maturing Generation X

Boomers, Millennials, and the “TikTok” Generation Z garner so much attention that they’re practically household words, even if many Americans don’t know the exact age parameters for these generational cohorts..But Gen X? It’s called “the forgotten generation.” Numbering less than 20 percent of the U.S. population, Gen Xers, born from 1965 through 1980, are largely under the radar.They’re squarely in the sites, though, of Danielle Bateman Girondo, chief marketing officer at the $3 billion St. Louis-based Midwest BankCentre. “For us, and I think for most community banks, Gen X is an economically pivotal segment. Unlike the older Boomers who are business owners thinking about succession, they are actively managing a business, and they are clients on both the business and retail side. Others are in the high earning years of their career. Plus, they are stewarding intergenerational wealth, with some beginning to help their parents with money and influencing their kids.”.Attention to Gen X is part of a financial services tradition of studying characteristics and banking preferences of all generations. Especially as technology has spawned new ways for customers to interact with financial institutions—and fintechs and neobanks— various age groups have exhibited more distinct preferences. A 2025 Deloitte survey of 2,027 banking customers, for instance, finds that Millennials [born 1981 to 1996] and Gen Z [1997 to 2012] are markedly more prone to switching their primary bank than Gen X and older generations, because it’s easier for younger customers who have fewer accounts and longstanding relationships to switch.Now that last year the oldest members of Gen X marked their 60th birthday, experts and bankers alike agree that this cohort should command attention — especially from community institutions.“Many Gen Xers are in their peak earnings years, but they’re also carrying peak responsibilities,” noted Adam Neiberg of data company SAS. “Many are funding college for their kids, or even financially supporting adult children, while simultaneously supporting aging parents. Many are planning on retiring in the not-so-distant future.”With those obligations, studies show that Gen Xer’s are heavy credit and debit card users, and value card rewards, college funding options, ways to alleviate occasional cash crunches, and help preparing for retirement.It’s the varied responsibilities of their financial lives that makes Gen X especially likely to trust counsel from their community bank, says Bateman Girondo. “Particularly when they are navigating complex situations, they value face-to-face help from someone they know and trust. We strive to be that trusted advisor.”Triggering eventWhile knowing generational preferences allows institutions to craft product and service offerings designed to broadly appeal to various groups, individuals within an age cohort aren’t typically interested in a product until their own circumstances dictate a financial need. Someone retiring at 60, for instance, suddenly starts wondering how to transfer his company 401(k) to an IRA, while another 60-year-old who pegs retirement years away is worried about paying college tuition.“We are aware of generational trends, but really it’s our relationships” that dictate when PSB Bank will introduce a product or solution that can help a Gen Xer, explains Kyle Quick, marketing director of the $850 million Hermann, Mo., institution. “When customers visit a branch, they usually want to talk,” he says, and PSB representatives are trained to listen carefully for cues on changes in their lives, and suggest solutions — even if a customer doesn’t specifically ask for help, he says..Frontline staffers in each of the 15 PSB offices typically live in the same communities as their customers, Quick adds, and may already know that one of their kids is headed to college or an aging parent needs to move. Those personal ties augment the cues reps hear in customer conversations.The life “triggers” signaling customers could benefit from a particular product can also be uncovered from customer data. The Federal Savings Bank, a $1.4 billion Chicago-based institution, is unique in that it has only one branch office, and its focus is on residential lending products offered around the country, particularly to military veterans. “We have banking products, like checking, but that’s a small percentage of our business,” explains Alejandra Denda, chief marketing officer. Given its unique structure, the bank relies on the data in its CRM to discover whether Gen X [and other ages] could benefit from certain solutions, like using home equity to consolidate credit card debt or pay college tuition, Denda explains.While certain products may appeal more frequently to particular generations, the bank does not use customers’ ages in employing data analytics. Indeed, compliance and customer privacy concerns mean that the bank doesn’t segment data by either age or any individual personal identifiers. “We look more at what life stage and financial goals a consumer segment has,” Denda says. Containing anonymous data on customers of varying ages, a particular segment with characteristics like teenage dependents or lots of home equity and high credit card balances, may nevertheless contain a prevalence of Gen Xers, who would respond to offers like using home equity for debt consolidation or paying tuition bills, Denda acknowledges.Northern Minnesota’s Grand Rapids State Bank, like many institutions, relies on both attentive customer-facing staffers and data to discern what products or services Gen X and other customers might benefit from, given their life stage and financial circumstances. “We are always striving to use customer data to predict customer needs. We are continually working with our front-line team to train them to be well-versed in mentioning specific products and services that the customer may benefit from using,” says Julie Wilcox, EVP, chief marketing officer of the $250 million bank, which is part of Wilcox Bancshares Inc., that also owns the $128 million Minnesota Lakes Bank in Delano.Predicting specific needsJessica Ebeling, EVP, chief digital and payment officer, Gate City Bank, Fargo, N.D., champions what can be learned from a generational focus: “Each generation tends to work with money, technology, and even banks differently. Tailoring our products and services to what they need helps us do that.”.The $3.98 billion mutual bank, which serves 23 communities in North Dakota and central Minnesota, has partnered with Alkami Technology, using its “Anticipatory Banking” platform to gain more insight on what products and services individual customers within generational cohorts may need in the near future. Then, Gate City sends a targeted message to those individuals most likely to find it “relevant and impactful,” Ebeling says.At community banks with more than $1 billion in assets, the challenge to implementing analytics technology like Anticipatory Banking is “vendor sprawl,” which prevents a unified view of a particular customer, says Maria Pieton, Alkami VP. Those larger institutions can overcome the vendor sprawl hurdle by consolidating their technology stacks. Smaller community banks typically need to implement “high impact modernization, particularly in frictionless account opening,” she adds. “By adopting a unified platform connecting deposit and loan origination, smaller banks gain a holistic view of their balance sheet.” Regardless of asset size, the goal remains the same, Pieton says, and that’s leveraging mobile data to proactively make suggestions to customers.Selecting palatable productsThe $2.1 billion OMB Bank is keenly aware of Gen X, since its southwest Missouri and Kansas City metro areas contain a greater share of Gen X households — 32 percent — than the national average, explains Ryan Bowling, SVP and director of marketing at the Springfield, Mo.-based OMB. “Gen X customers are practical,” he observes. “They want tools that work, competitive returns and access to a real person when the decision carries weight.”.“A major shift for us happened four years ago when we completed a core conversion. We moved to next-generation platforms for our core system, digital banking and online account opening,” Bowling says. That enhancement has proven effective in spurring “strong growth in online account openings.” For instance, a partnership with a company called CD Valet, which offers CDs from financial institutions around the country, is attractive to Gen Xers, Bowling notes. “Many [Gen Xers] are actively managing their savings and will move when the value makes sense,” Bowling said.In addition, both the commercial and AG business side of OMB are ripe for offerings targeted to Gen X. That’s because Bowling sees more Gen X clients “stepping into ownership or leadership roles as family farms and operations transition to the next generation. In many cases, they aren’t just maintaining what was built. They’re modernizing equipment, expanding acreage, diversifying revenue streams and taking a more strategic approach to financing and cash management.” As a consequence, OMB places a priority on its commercial and ag offerings, to appeal to the Gen X business owners and farmers who play a central role in the “long-term future of our bank.”At PSB Bank, its debit card ‘Your Way Rewards’ program is “one of my favorite things about our bank,” says Quick. Gen Xers, who typically are established in their marketplace and often have kids in school, are also fans of this program which rewards a local school district or charity five cents for every debit card transaction. “Five cents may not sound like a lot, but it adds up and last year we donated $60,000,” says Quick. “In the fall, we give out checks at different school sporting events.”An offer introduced 10 years ago by Gate City Bank whereby “customers who finance a home through the bank are also able to consolidate student loan debt with no fees and low fixed rates” has proven popular with financially burdened Gen Xers throughout the past decade and continues, since some are still carrying student loans, Ebeling shares.Listening to generational feedbackOne of the best ways to determine what Gen X and other customers want is to simply ask them, Wilcox of GRSB says. The bank regularly uses focus groups to directly probe how it’s perceived. “Our focus groups include multiple age brackets and various demographic categories to encourage conversation among all the segments, and provide us an opportunity to analyze similarities and differences,” says Wilcox.“We view [focus groups] as an opportunity to align with our customers in whatever stage of life they’re gearing up for. Generational marketing plays a large part in each of our marketing campaigns,” Wilcox says. “We try to relate to each age segment for their varying needs throughout their stages of life.”