Product Management in Banking: A Complete Guide

November 5, 2025
product management
4 min read

Author : Srishti Sharma – Product Marketer

Walk into any bank today and you’ll notice how much has changed in just a few years. There are mobile apps that allow you to open an account in minutes, buy-now-pay-later features, and many more trying to implement new offerings and keep pace with evolving customer expectations. This shift is where product management in banking has quietly become one of the most important roles in the industry.

This blog will have a closer look into what product management is in the banking industry, what banking product managers do in the industry, skills to succeed in this position and why more banks than ever are recruiting product managers.

Key Takeaways:

Product management in banking leads to the development and advancement of financial services such as loans, credit cards and digital applications.
Banking product managers juggle between strategy, compliance, technology and customer needs to introduce successful products.
There are different roles in retail, credit, digital, wealth, and corporate banking, and each role demands different expertise.
Key skills include market understanding, data analysis, regulatory awareness, and cross-functional collaboration.
The future of product management in banking is shaped by AI, open banking, embedded finance, and hyper-personalization.

In this article

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What is Product Management in Banking?

Banking product management is the art of designing, enhancing, and operating financial products such as credit cards, savings accounts, mobile applications, loans, and online payment solutions. The product manager is the link between the business objectives of the bank, regulatory needs, technology staff, and customer needs.

The goal is simple: introduce products that they actually want to use and make them profitable and compliant. A banking product manager is, in a way, a strategist as well as an operator, because he or she is the one who decides what products to develop, how to price them and how to make them successful in the market.

Key Responsibilities of a Banking Product Manager

The responsibilities go beyond coming up with product ideas. A typical day might involve:

Defining product strategy – determining what the bank should focus on, be it products or features, based on the customer demand and revenue goals.
Coordinating with cross-functional teams – collaboration with engineering, design, compliance and marketing teams to develop and introduce products.
Tracking performance – the rate of adoption, contribution to revenue, churn and customer satisfaction per product.
Managing compliance and risk – checking that the product adheres to the banking rules and regulations, and that it is safe to be used by the customers.
Listening to customer feedback – based on surveys, NPS scores, and reviews on the app, it is possible to refine the product and enhance user experience.

This is the combination of the strategic and operational work that makes product management in banking such a unique and challenging job.

Types of Product Management Roles in Banking

The current product line-up of banks is diverse, and many product managers may specialize in a single area:

Retail Banking PMs – concentrate on savings accounts, current accounts, debit cards and personal loans.
Credit and Lending PMs – deal with credit cards, mortgages, SME loans and buy now pay later.
Digital Product PMs – mobile apps, online banking and digital payment.
Wealth Management PMs – develop products such as mutual funds, insurance and investment vehicles.
Corporate Banking PMs – deal with products of large corporations, such as trade finance, treasury and cash management.

All these positions require one to have knowledge of the product line, customer segment, and regulatory environment.

Essential Skills for Product Managers in Banking

If you want to get into product management in banking, you’ll need a blend of business, technical, and interpersonal skills:

Market Understanding: Understand the way in which customers select banking products, what the competitors offer and what the regulators demand.
Analytical Thinking: Be comfortable with data P&L, risk metrics, and customer analytics to make informed decisions.
Communication Skills: Work with multiple stakeholders and present product roadmaps clearly.
Regulatory Awareness: Knowledge of regulatory demands such as KYC, AML and privacy regulations.
Tech Fluency: Work closely with developers, understand APIs, and keep up with fintech innovations.
Execution Discipline: Bring products to market on time, monitor results, and make quick iterations.

Strong product managers in banking combine the discipline of finance with the creativity of tech product managers.

Why Banks Need Product Managers Today?

The banking industry has turned into a very competitive environment where fintech startups in the sector are competing with the traditional players. Customers now expect digital-first experiences, quick approvals, and transparency. Banks will lose their relevance without a specific emphasis on product strategy.

Banking product management can be used to address three big problems:

Speed to Market: PMs simplify the product development process, enabling banks to be quick to respond quickly to competition.
Customer-Centricity: PMs make sure that products are designed based on actual customer requirements as opposed to internal assumptions.
Profitability: PMs trade the value of customers with business interests to ensure the products are profitable and sustainable.

This is the reason why even the big conventional banks are employing hundreds of product managers to keep up with the modern product offerings.

How to Get Into Product Management in Banking?

No one pathway leads one to this career; however, the majority of banking product managers fall into one of the following routes:

Banking operations or risk roles – moving into product after working on process design.
Business analysts or consultants – Transitioning into Product Manager after driving banking projects.
MBA graduates – joining banks through management programs and specializing in product.
Tech backgrounds – engineers who worked on banking platforms moving into product strategy roles.

The easiest way to enter is to learn the basics of financial products, how to analyze data, and the basics of product management, such as road mapping and prioritization. Product management/fintech certifications could also be used as an advantage.

Salary Trends in Banking Product Management

The product management pay in the banking sector depends on the region, experience, and product that one is dealing with. On average:

Entry-level PMs earn between ₹8–15 LPA in India or $80k–$100k in the US.
Mid-level PMs with 4–6 years of experience can earn ₹20–30 LPA or $110k–$130k.
Senior PMs and Heads of Product earn well above ₹40 LPA, or $150k+, especially in large multinational banks or fintech divisions.

Total compensation also includes bonuses and performance rewards to a large extent, particularly when you are in jobs where you have to deal with revenue models such as credit card or loans.

Future Trends in Banking Product Management

The future of product management in banking is exciting and challenging. Some of the trends influencing the role are the following:

Embedded Finance: Banks are creating products in non-bank apps (e.g., credit at checkout).
AI-Powered Banking: AI will enable product managers to personalize their offers, identify fraud, and automate services.
Open Banking: APIs will facilitate the easy transfer and sharing of information in a secure manner, which will result in new partnership products.
Sustainability-Focused Products: Green loans, carbon-neutral cards, and products that are based on ESG are becoming popular.
Hyper-Personalization: Expect products designed for very specific customer segments powered by data analytics.

Banking product managers will be forced to keep up with these changes and keep changing strategies.

Banking products are no longer static. They are fast developing based on customer expectation, fintech innovation, and regulations. The banking product management has been the catalyst of this change, the convergence of technology, compliance, and user experience to provide solutions that customers can trust.

For a prospective career in the financial services industry, product management is among the most effective skills one can learn to help this industry in the future.