Distribution, Go-to-Market and Customer Acquisition

Financial products are sold, not bought. Few people wake up wanting a mortgage, a life policy, a business checking account or an index fund; they want a house, peace of mind, a working company or a retirement, and the financial product reaches them through whoever is standing nearest to that moment: a branch, a mortgage broker, a car dealer, an insurance agent, a comparison website, an employer, a merchant's checkout, a retail cash counter, a financial adviser, an app recommended by a friend. Whoever owns that moment owns much of the margin. That is why banks have run expensive branch networks for two centuries, why Capital One spent about $5.9 billion on marketing in 2025 (FY2025 10-K), why Intuit paid about $7.1 billion for the comparison site Credit Karma in 2020, why Costco could move its co-branded card from American Express to Citi and Visa in 2016, and why Green Dot's cash-in network at Walmart, Walgreens and CVS counters still matters to Americans who use cash. This section maps the distribution channels of finance and their economics, how each segment acquires customers (retail banking, cards, lending, insurance, wealth, consumer fintech, and B2B sales to banks and corporates), how US firms reach unbanked, underbanked and cash-using customers, the rules that govern financial marketing, landmark cases, pitfalls and expert framing.