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Transforming Collections Into a Revenue-Generating Capability: The Next Frontier for Financial Services

Mamta Rodrigues Anurag Malholtra - 01.27.2026

Today’s financial services organizations are facing pressure in a market defined by rising defaults, economic uncertainty, and digitally savvy consumers. It’s why collections is at an inflection point—what was once viewed as the final, reactive step in the credit lifecycle is now emerging as a strategic lever for trust, customer lifetime value, and revenue growth.

 

To help financial services keep pace, we brought senior industry leaders together to discuss the future of collections. The Ecosystm and TP Leaders Roundtable, held in Singapore last month, concluded that collections can no longer remain siloed. It must evolve from a cost centre into a capability that strengthens resilience and fuels growth. 

1. Reframe Collections as a Strategic, Value-Creating Function 

 

Key takeaway: Mindset shift comes first. 

Collections has long been treated as a reactive function with limited strategic value. This mindset remains one of the biggest barriers to transformation. 

 

Leading institutions are now reframing collections as a strategic, revenue-generating capability aligned with marketing, sales, and customer experience. This shift enables organizations to resolve customer issues with empathy while driving recovery and creating opportunities to grow revenue.  

2. Integrate Collections Into the Customer Lifecycle 

 

Key takeaway: Collections is where loyalty is won or lost.  

 

A consistent theme from leaders was how abruptly customers fall out of the lifecycle once they enter debt. This rupture strains the relationship precisely when support matters most.  

 

Yet this is also the moment when loyalty is most recoverable. When integrated into the full customer lifecycle, collections can drive loyalty and differentiate the brand experience. Crucially, retaining and re-engaging customers often delivers more value than acquiring new ones—Bain & Company notes that increasing retention by as little as 5% can boost profits by up to 95%. 

So instead of seeing delinquency as a dead end, organizations should see it as a re-engagement opportunity. With compassion, empathy, and clarity, institutions can rebuild trust while curbing future loan losses.  

 

One recent TP partnership showed how empathetic collections can directly strengthen the bottom line: 

  • Business challenge: Leading international bank seeking to boost recovery while preserving customer trust 

  • TP’s solution: Using TP Interact to analyze each conversation to uncover delinquency drivers, refine outreach timing, and align engagement with payroll cycles 

  • Outcome: 177% growth in revenue 

3. Align Collections with Operations and Risk for Enterprise-Grade Resilience 

 

Key takeaway: Integration drives better decisions. 

 

Collections has traditionally operated in isolation. However, our roundtable discussion highlighted that tighter integration with operations and risk can directly improve outcomes. 

As leaders noted, collections becomes far more effective when positioned as an enterprise capability rather than a standalone function. To enable this, risk champions can coordinate across risk functions, while business analysts map acquisition costs against retention value—embedding collections into the organization's broader strategic and financial model. 

 

This integration shifts institutions from reactive recovery to proactive risk management. It enables more accurate budget planning, earlier identification of at-risk segments, and a more cohesive understanding of customer value across the lifecycle.  

4. Drive Transformation with Data & AI 

 

Key takeaway: Data unification enables smarter recovery. 

 

When operations and data are siloed, institutions struggle to personalize outreach, identify repayment intent, or determine which customers require early intervention. Leaders agreed that the next frontier of collections hinges on the intelligent use of data and AI.  

Financial institutions need a clearer, more unified view of each customer, supported by external credit and behavioral data—especially as unexpected bankruptcies rise. Data-driven transformation, fueled by predictive AI, can provide collections teams with key insights, from propensity-to-pay analysis to early identification of high-risk cases. 

 

Here’s an example of how we enhanced our client’s efficiency through data-driven recovery: 

  • Business challenge: APAC banking and financial services provider facing limited data visibility across multiple outreach channels 

  • TP’s solution: AI-powered platform to enable predictive, analytics-led collections delinquency drivers, refine outreach timing, and align engagement with payroll cycles 

  • Outcome: $572K increase in collections revenue 

5. Strengthen Governance, Compliance & Risk Resilience 

 

Key takeaway: Early involvement changes everything. 

 

As AI, automation, and cross-border data flows reshape how collections is executed, leading financial institutions are turning their focus to governance. Whether it’s complying with local regulations or considering the risk of agentic AI, leaders shared how robust compliance, risk management, and ethical standards must underpin every stage of the collections process. 

One important shift: embedding risk engagement earlier in the customer journey. Instead of viewing risk as a downstream function that steps in only when customers default, leaders agreed that risk must be part of underwriting, servicing, and customer engagement from the outset. This early involvement strengthens resilience, improves early detection of emerging risks, and ensures that collections teams are working with accurate and timely insights.  

For example, TP recently worked with a client to strengthen its collections operations: 

  • Business challenge: Leading digital bank seeking to balance regulatory standards with business goals 

  • Outcome: 98%+ QA scores 

Looking Ahead: Why Collections Will Define the Future of Financial Resilience 

 

Our conversations at the Leaders Roundtable reinforced a clear reality:  

 

Collections is no longer just about recovering debt. Today, it’s an essential part of long-term customer value, and one of the most strategically important capabilities in financial services.  

Forward-thinking organizations are redefining collections as a powerful engine for customer loyalty, sustainable revenue preservation, and long-term resilience.  

 

At TP, we are committed to helping financial institutions take that next step.  

 

Contact us today to start transforming collections into your revenue engine.