How BeHive Consulting Improves Financial Journeys
•March 1, 2026
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Why It Matters
BeHive demonstrates how behavioral science can give companies a competitive edge by designing digital experiences that align with unconscious decision drivers, offering a strategic alternative to purely AI‑driven solutions.
Key Takeaways
- •Behavioral economics drives BeHive's consulting approach in shaping client strategies worldwide
- •Combines literature review with primary data to uncover unconscious decisions
- •Digital transformation for elderly banking services built on trust research
- •AI limited; human behavior insights remain essential for strategy
- •Brand name stems from behavioral economics and creative brainstorming
Summary
The video features a conversation with Jade, co‑founder of BeHive Consulting, about the firm’s mission to fuse behavioral science with traditional management consulting. Drawing on her economics background and a master’s in behavioral science, Jade explains that the company exists to translate academic insights into practical tools that influence customer, user, and employee behavior.
BeHive’s methodology blends rigorous literature reviews with original primary research, including decision‑simulation experiments that probe unconscious motivations often hidden from standard surveys. This dual approach enables the firm to surface the true drivers behind choices, allowing clients to design interventions that genuinely steer behavior. A recent case study involved a German bank’s end‑of‑life wealth‑management service, where BeHive digitized a highly emotional, in‑person process for seniors by building trust and emotional connection into the online experience.
Key moments include Jade’s critique of the rational‑agent model taught in economics, her observation that AI is limited to the data fed into it, and the anecdote about the company’s name emerging from a playful mash‑up of “behavioral economics” and “beehive.” These remarks underscore the firm’s belief that human psychology, not just algorithms, drives decision‑making.
The implications are clear: firms that embed behavioral insights into product design and customer journeys can achieve differentiation that pure data analytics cannot provide. As financial services confront aging demographics and digital transformation, BeHive’s approach offers a roadmap for creating empathetic, trust‑based experiences that improve adoption and loyalty.
Original Description
Why do financial customers often behave differently from what they say in surveys?
At Sibos 2025, Rachel Altmann, co-founder of BeHive Consulting, explains how behavioural science in financial services helps banks design better digital journeys by focusing on what truly drives decision-making.
With a background in economics and behavioural research at LSE, Altmann saw firsthand that the traditional “rational agent” model rarely reflects real-world behaviour. That insight led her to co-found BeHive Consulting, blending behavioural economics with management consulting to solve commercial challenges using evidence-based psychology.
In financial services, stated reasons are often post-rationalised. To build better customer journeys, institutions must uncover the real drivers behind decisions: trust, cognitive effort, emotion, framing, and social proof. Altmann explains how behavioural insights in banking reveal these hidden influences and turn complex processes into manageable experiences.
The discussion also explores AI and behavioural science. While AI can scale patterns found in existing data, it cannot uncover unconscious drivers on its own. BeHive Consulting complements AI by running primary data research, simulations, and behavioural experiments to surface what’s missing — and then validate it.
A compelling example includes a German bank’s digital “generational consulting” service, helping older customers manage end-of-life health and wealth planning remotely. Through careful behavioural design — reducing cognitive load, sequencing decisions clearly, and building trust at a distance — a daunting task becomes achievable from home.
This conversation is essential for banking leaders, fintech product teams, UX designers, and anyone working on trust, digital transformation, and customer journey optimisation in financial services.
Explore the complete conversation with Rachel Altmann on behavioural science, AI, and designing better financial journeys at Sibos 2025 :
@SibosTV @behiveconsulting2909
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