Compliance and Accessibility in the Mobile Age
The Dual Challenge of Innovation and Inclusion
While the digital transformation of financial services promises unprecedented opportunities for customer engagement and operational efficiency, it also introduces a complex web of regulatory and accessibility challenges that cannot be overlooked. The shift to mobile-first experiences isn't simply about adopting new technology - it's about fundamentally reimagining how compliance, accessibility and consumer-duty principles translate into interactive digital environments. As financial institutions race to meet evolving customer expectations, they must simultaneously ensure that their digital innovations remain inclusive, easy to understand and fully compliant with an increasingly sophisticated regulatory landscape that demands the same rigorous standards across all customer touchpoints, regardless of channel or format.
Compliance and Accessibility
As financial institutions embrace digital engagement, they must navigate complex regulatory and accessibility requirements. Interactive digital experiences represent sophisticated forms of non-marketing communication that demand the same rigorous approach as traditional touchpoints.
These digital interactions aren't simply technology implementations, they're complex communication ecosystems requiring specialised governance, experience design principles and deep domain expertise.
The stakes are particularly high when considering accessibility. At least one in five people in the UK have a long-term illness, impairment, or disability, with many more experiencing temporary disabilities1. Whilst the UK banking sector is more digital than ever, around 1.6 million people (3% of the population) remain offline, even as cashless payments and AI-driven financial tools become integral to everyday life2.
This reality underscores the critical importance of inclusive design. Digital communication strategies must evolve to meet consumer needs whilst remaining compliant with regulatory requirements such as consumer duty obligations. Success depends on organisations embracing a broader understanding of "communication" that encompasses dynamic, interactive digital experiences as primary communication channels rather than viewing them merely as web or mobile applications.
Building the Communications of Tomorrow
The path forward requires financial organisations to navigate towards a digital future whilst ensuring robust compliance frameworks and comprehensive accessibility standards remain paramount. The challenge isn't abandoning critical regulatory requirements but adapting them to new digital contexts whilst maintaining the same level of rigour and customer protection that has defined responsible financial services communication.
Consider the complexity of modern financial literacy requirements. Nearly half of the UK population at working age have numeracy skills equivalent to primary school levels3, whilst 5.2 million adults (approximately 18% of the adult population) have a reading age of 11 or lower4. This means financial institutions must design experiences that are not only digitally sophisticated but also fundamentally accessible and comprehensible.
Complex messaging must be communicated in ways that are clear, fair, not misleading, properly recorded and continuously monitored. This requires designing experiences that are compliant, behavioural science-driven, and easy to understand, with changes governed through processes that protect customers efficiently and effectively.
The Strategic Imperative
Financial institutions face three critical imperatives in this evolving landscape:
1. Embrace Digital-First Design: Organisations must move beyond viewing mobile as simply another channel and instead recognise it as the primary way most customers will interact with financial services. This means designing digital-first experiences for most customers, not retrofitting desktop experiences for smaller screens.
2. Expand the Definition of Communication: Success requires changing perceptions of what "communication" means, moving beyond print and email to encompass rich, interactive digital experiences that provide real value to customers' financial lives .
3. Invest in Digital Expertise: Organisations need to develop sophisticated digital skills and understand how experience design can support modern engagement strategies. This includes building capabilities in behavioural science, accessibility design and compliance management for digital channels.
Signal are a communications transformation partner, working with UK Tier one financial services firms to meet rapidly rising expectations from both the customer and the regulator. Through a combination of consulting, transition support and cloud native comms processing capability, we help firms accelerate the shift to a new, mobile first communications operating model. To speak to one our expert team about your transformation goals - get in touch.
Sources:
1 https://www.gov.uk/guidance/accessibility-requirements-for-public-sector-websites-and-apps - accessed Aug 2025
2 https://www.lloydsbank.com/assets/media/pdfs/banking_with_us/whats-happening/lb-consumer-digital-index-2024-report.pdf - accessed Sept 2025
3 https://plainnumbers.org.uk - accessed Aug 2025
4 https://www.changepeople.org/why-financial-services-need-truly-accessible-communications - accessed Aug 2025