Millennials look to tech firms to replace unloved banks

Nearly three quarters of America's millennials would rather go to the dentist than listen to what their banks have to say and are more interested in hearing from tech firms about financial services.

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Millennials look to tech firms to replace unloved banks

Editorial

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community.

In a three year survey of 10,000 people from Viacom unit Scratch designed to gauge millennial attitudes to 15 different industries banking emerges as unloved and unwanted.

All four of America's leading banks are in the 10 least loved brands across industries. More than half of respondents say that their bank offers nothing different than any other providers and one in three are open to switching in the next 90 days.

In the longer term the picture is even bleaker, with banking considered the sector most at risk of disruption and more than two thirds of millennials - those born between 1981 and 2000 - saying that in five years the way we access money and pay for things will be completely different.

A third think that they won't need a bank at all in five years, while tech firms are expected to help fill the gap. Nearly half are counting on tech startups to overhaul the industry and three quarters would be more excited about a new offering in financial services from Amazon, Google, Apple, PayPal or Square than from their own bank.

The report chimes with a new survey of 560 financial executives from PricewaterhouseCoopers which reveals that nearly three quarters (71%) consider non-traditional competitors a threat, significantly higher than global counterparts overall (55%).

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Comments: (2)

A Finextra member 

This research has got to the crux of the real threat to the banking industry. Trust in the banking sector has continued to drag and this is particularly true of generation Y and will be even more of an issue for digital natives. With peer to peer lending, virtual currencies etc the shape of the banking industry is fundamentally changing... Now it's down to the banks to work out how they will respond.. 

A Finextra member 

Trust , yes. But more than trust, it is also about service, ease of use and functionality.

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