Nikos Vasilopoulos is an active IT Professional since 2001. He started his career in IBM and joined the Banking Application Development sector. In 2007 he joined Citibank thus moving from IT Services to Core Banking. After the acquisition of Citibank’s retail operations from Alpha Bank in 2014, he joined the Application Development Division and has been there ever since.
During his career, Nikos had the opportunity to actively participate in a wide range of IT projects and Transformation initiatives. In the beginning of his career, he participated in a large transformation initiative in the National Bank of Greece (NBG) by changing the core lending systems. Later on, he was an integral part of ICAP’s application modernization program. He then rejoined NBG during the onset of the Deposits modernization initiative. As an Alternative Channels Head in Citibank, he delivered the first mobile banking application for Citi in Europe while at the same time he was part of a task force aiming to find solutions for delinquent loans in the onset of the financial crisis. Almost immediately after joining Alpha Bank, he was placed in an ambitious program to modernize the core banking system. Between 2021 and 2022 he was driving the IT Transformation program which was a part of the larger Transformation initiative undertaken by the Bank, while ever since 2023 he is the Director of the IT Core Banking Services Division.
Discussion Framework: As banking grows more embedded, personalised and platform-driven, competition is shifting from products and channels to ownership of the customer relationship itself. This session examines how incumbent banks, neobanks, payment networks and digital ecosystems are vying to become the customer's primary financial interface and what that means for the industry's future shape. Panellists will explore how AI and agentic banking, embedded finance, hyper-personalisation, new payment models and data-driven engagement are reshaping acquisition, distribution, loyalty and trust—and, in turn, redefining how retail banking creates value.
Central Question: In the next decade, who will own the customer relationship: the institution that holds the account, or the platform that controls the experience?
