For years, a persistent belief has lingered across banking and credit unions: “HubSpot isn’t built for us.” It’s a platform for tech companies, ecommerce brands, or SMBs, but not financial institutions with complex systems, high-stakes compliance requirements, and legacy infrastructures. Right?
Not anymore.
During our first FinSight Forum, GreenHouse Agency brought together a panel of real financial services leaders using HubSpot at enterprise scale, plus HubSpot architects who work inside FinServ portals every day. What happened was an honest, myth-busting conversation that revealed just how dramatically HubSpot has evolved and how fast financial institutions are adopting it. For this premier, we featured Scott Fahy, Vice President of Marketing Operations at HomeTrust Bank, and Scott Heit, Director of Marketing and Digital Strategy for Leaders Credit Union.
This blog recaps the high-level themes we explored, without giving away all the good stuff (that’s what the recording is for). If you want to see exactly how banks and credit unions are using HubSpot today, you can get the full on-demand session below (and make sure you snag a seat for the next one!)
Get the full recording here.
The FinServ Reality Check: What We Brought Back From INBOUND
After engaging with hundreds of financial institutions at HubSpot’s INBOUND conference, one message was clear: banking and credit union leaders are no longer dabbling in digital transformation… they’re in it. And they want tools that are adaptable, secure, efficient, and innovative without being overly complex or outrageously priced.
Four major themes emerged:
1. The FinServ Bold Era
Institutions are shifting from hesitation to confident experimentation. Leaders are now asking, “How fast can we do this?” instead of “Should we?”
2. Personalization Is Now a Team Sport
Personalization isn’t owned by marketing. It touches onboarding, lending, service, sales, digital experience, and data teams to deliver consistently personal experiences. HubSpot’s architecture is finally built to support this.
3. Trust: The New Competitive Battleground
Members and customers expect transparency, rapid service, and seamless digital experiences. Trust is now something institutions build (or lose) with every interaction.
4. Win by Learning
The best-performing institutions aren’t just data-driven – they’re data-informed. The distinction matters, and the panel shared hard-earned examples of where “more data” didn’t equal “better decisions.”
Want to see how these trends play out inside actual banks and credit unions?
Watch the full breakdown in the recording.
Loop Marketing: The Funnel Is Retired (Yes, Really)
One of the biggest shifts revealed at INBOUND was HubSpot’s official retirement of the traditional funnel. In its place? Loop Marketing: a member-first model built for continuous engagement across marketing, sales, and service.
While the framework itself is best understood visually (and our panel walked through real FinServ examples), here’s what you need to know:
- Engagement doesn’t stop at “conversion.”
- Service drives long-term revenue
- Every team participates in the member journey
- Data isn’t just informing decisions, it’s powering automation and personalization in real time
And for financial institutions, this shift is especially significant. The loop model reflects how people actually interact with their bank or credit union: ongoing, cyclical, multi-touch, and experience-driven.
What’s New Right Now in HubSpot for Financial Services
Many banks and credit unions still picture the HubSpot of 2018. But HubSpot today, especially heading into 2026, is a very different, enterprise-ready platform.
Here are a few innovations our panel highlighted:
Scalability Without Complexity
HubSpot has introduced tools that expand what institutions can automate and measure without adding configuration bloat or requiring specialized IT skills. The cost-to-capability ratio is shifting in favor of institutions.
Compliance & Audit Readiness
New features support more rigorous data governance, permissions, and audit trails, something that used to be a major sticking point for financial institutions evaluating HubSpot.
AI That Fits FinServ Workflows
In addition to standard “AI assistants,” HubSpot introduced:
- AI email template upload (goodbye manual rebuilds)
- Faster campaign creation
- Brand-safe automation
- Customer Journey Pathfinder for real-time performance insights
If you want to see these tools broken down with real use cases from the panelists, you’ll find those in the recording.
Real Institutions, Real Wins: HomeTrust & Leaders Credit Union
Our panelists didn’t talk theory; they talked specifics. But here, we’ll keep things high-level to avoid spoiling the recording.
HomeTrust Bank
For HomeTrust, the turning point came when the team built a simple API connection and expanded it over time. What began as a modest data sync now updates nearly 100 customer properties daily and powers:
- Onboarding
- Customer success surveys
- Automated cross-marketing campaigns
That last piece alone influenced $23 million in new deposits in the first year. And, perhaps just as importantly, it gave their marketing team strategic independence from IT.
Their advice? Start small. Build trust. Scale intentionally.
Leaders Credit Union
Leaders had a different challenge: expensive, siloed, FinServ-specific systems that didn’t talk to each other. In 2024, their team replaced two of those tools with HubSpot’s Service Hub, saving $94,000 annually while also improving access to CX tools across their customer care center.
One platform. Lower cost. Better data unity.
These stories were shared candidly and in detail during the webinar, and you’ll want to hear them firsthand.
HubSpot Myths That Need to Be Retired
Our panel tackled several myths that still float around financial services:
- “HubSpot isn’t secure enough.”
- “It can’t handle sensitive data.”
- “It’s too small for enterprise institutions.”
- “The integrations aren’t strong enough.”
- “It’s too expensive once you go beyond marketing.”
Let’s just say: every myth had a real-world counterexample. And in many cases, the truth surprised the audience.
The recording includes the full myth-busting discussion (and some spicy takes). Get access here.
Security: The Conversation Financial Institutions Need to Have
One of the most eye-opening moments from the webinar was the discussion around HubSpot’s evolving security capabilities. Many leaders were surprised by:
- Sensitive and Highly Sensitive data types, including full account numbers, credit card numbers, social security numbers, and tax IDs
- IP-restricted login
- SSO + advanced access controls
- Enterprise-level audit trails
- trust.hubspot.com as an IT-friendly resource
For many institutions, this was the point where old assumptions cracked. HubSpot is no longer “just a marketing tool.” It’s an enterprise platform, one that IT teams increasingly support.
What’s Next: Building the FinSight Community
The most exciting part of this first virtual event? It’s only the beginning.
We’re building the FinSight Community, which will be a collaborative space for financial services professionals who want to sharpen their skills, share strategies, and learn from peers already doing the work.
Coming soon:
- Audience-driven topics
- More virtual sessions
- Opportunities to participate as a contributor or panelist
- A hub for ongoing learning, connection, and practical FinServ insights
If you’d like to be part of future events, reach out directly.
As financial services leaders across the United States rethink their tech stack and customer experience strategy, HubSpot is proving to be far more than a marketing tool; it’s a CRM platform powering stronger customer relationships, higher customer satisfaction, and more efficient internal workflows.
Whether you’re a financial advisor looking to streamline client relationships, a marketing team aiming to run smarter email campaigns, or a service department focused on customer retention and customer support, the HubSpot ecosystem now offers the flexibility, compliance readiness, and automation needed to scale with confidence. With tools like Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, and HubSpot CRM working together through unified HubSpot workflows, institutions can deepen insight into customer interactions and deliver a level of customer success that drives real, measurable impact. If your institution is ready to reduce friction, empower your reps, and elevate your marketing efforts while meeting compliance requirements, this is the moment to take a closer look, and the FinSight Community is here to help you make an informed decision guided by the expertise and passion for the FinServ industry that GreenHouse Agency holds.
Get the Full Recording On-Demand
This was the most transparent, practical conversation we’ve seen about using HubSpot in financial services, and the takeaways are too valuable to miss.
Download the full recording now.
December 16, 2025
