The future fate of banks appears to lie in the mobile-obsessed hands of the millennial generation, with the 18-34 demographic emerging as the most lucrative age group for financial product sales in the UK.
According to global research conducted by Telstra among 27000 consumers (of which 8000 are within the millennial age bracket), UK millennials’ average wallet size is now 40% greater than the UK adult population as a whole.
Telstra defines average wallet size as total balance value of deposits and lending held by a particular age group. It found that the average wallet size of UK millennials is currently worth $81,990 compared to $58,709 for the total adult population.
“Millennials, their consumption of mobile digital and wallet size have undoubtedly become lead indicators of performance for financial institutions,” says Rocky Scopelliti, Telstra’s global industry executive for financial services. "Telstra’s research found that UK millennials average wallet size has now overtaken all other demographic segments by the largest margin compared to other countries studied. As digital challengers continue their relentless growth in the UK market, leveraging programmable disruptive technologies to transform and compete against new breeds of organisations is an imperative for traditional institutions.”
A comparative study of UK bank account data found that Barclays Bank has the largest proportion of millennials among its customer base (42%), the largest main bank market share (16%) and Barclays Bank millennial customers are most likely to engage with the bank via mobile banking - over 70% do so each month.
Ashok Vaswani, CEO of Barclays UK, said “It’s encouraging to see the digital transformation of our business making a real impact with customers. People in the UK are living increasingly connected lives and the rapid adoption of our mobile services is a great strength for Barclays in the UK.
“I believe that a mobile first approach is making banking easier, more convenient and more intuitive for customers as we connect them to new services and value. I believe this can be a winning strategy not just with millennial customers, but for all the customers we serve.”
Vaswani is the keynote speakers at today's SAP Financial Services Forum in London. Finextra is live-tweeting the talks here.