Fewer than one in 10 Brits use digital-only banks

Only eight per cent of people in Britain use app-only banks like Monzo and Starling, with a majority preferring to stick with the mobile offerings from high street giants.

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Fewer than one in 10 Brits use digital-only banks

Editorial

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

According to research conducted over a six-month period in 2019 by YouGov, 53% of respondents interact via mobile with an incument institution at least once a month, 27% once a week and 18% daily.

YouGov summarises that Brits are a mobile-savvy people when it comes to banking, but they prefer that offered by traditional institutions, such as HSBC and Lloyds.

"It appears the main beneficiaries of the mobile banking revolution are the 'legacy' banks it was meant to overthrow," the polling giant sums up.

This assertion is largely supported by some recent research by mobile advertising technology company Ogury, which concludes that high street banks are still firmly in the ascendancy, with only a combined 14% using a digital challenger.

Barclays held the most users among the 688,000 people surveyed by Ogury with 25.2%, while Lloyds, Halifax, Natwest and Santander were all in the teens.

According to YouGov, the advent of digital challengers is only a "partial success", but that this could change as the fintech market becomes more mature.

The research also suggests that traditional methods of banking still have some life in them, with 26% managing their money by visiting their local branch, and 23% stating that they are uncomfortable with using online banking.

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Comments: (1)

A Finextra member 

This is an interesting outcome but I am not surprised by these findings. In my view take up will not be driven by innovation of the customer experience alone. It also requires new products and a wealth of appropriate services that will appeal to the modern consumer. Very few of the ‘Challengers’ are providing the depth and breadth of products required to initiate a change, this, together with a reluctance by users to self-inflict what they perceive (even if untrue) as a disruptive experience to transfer accounts.

But I believe there is more to it than that. For quite some time the financial services industry has also suffered from a lot of negative press and rebuilding consumer trust in the big banks to look after their money is still a major hurdle that needs to be overcome. However there is light at the end of the tunnel; lower cost manufacturing of bank services through next gen digital platforms and/or the emergence of new service providers could help to close the gap in product availability and attractiveness terms.

 

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