Consumers express interest in bank data sharing

Consumers worldwide increasingly expect new and innovative services from their banks and are willing to share data with new financial service providers, a global online survey by ACI Worldwide and YouGov of more than 9,000 consumers in the U.S. and Europe has found.

Asked which three services they want most from their current account providers:

-More than half of U.K. consumers (52%) said they would like to see more loyalty discounts and offers, followed by better security and fraud prevention (38%) and real-time banking services (36%)

-30% of respondents in Italy, 27% in the US and 32% in Hungary said they want access to more varied ATM services

-25% of UK consumers, 26% in France and 25% in the US want more control over their banking services, for example, the ability to temporarily de-activate elements of a service, such as disabling a payment card or set their own contactless limits.

The majority of U.K. consumers are amenable to the idea of sharing data with new financial service providers that are expected to come onto the market in January in 2018 when the new European PSD2 regulation takes effect. The regulation will allow new service providers to access consumers’ banking details with their consent, and are expected to offer a range of new services that could help consumers to better manage their finances, save money and find better deals. More than half of U.K. consumers (55%) said they would need to better understand what happens to their personal data and how it is protected before they use these services.

Lu Zurawski, Practice Lead EMEA, Retail Banking and Consumer Payments at ACI Worldwide comments:

“The data suggests that we have reached a tipping point at the intersection of technology and financial services where the majority of consumers now trust technology enough that they want it to enhance their financial lives. This is great news for the banking industry as many banks and financial service providers have been leveraging these new technologies for some time.

“However, the research also shows that a lot of work still needs to be done to educate consumers about how to take advantage of the new financial service offerings—and provide assurances that their personal information is safe. Raising consumer awareness about the challenges and opportunities of this ‘brave new world’ will be crucial to its success.”

Other key findings:

• Switching account providers: In Italy, almost half of consumers (47%) plan to switch account providers in the next 12 months, in France 34 percent and in Spain 39 percent. In the U.S., U.K. and Germany, consumers seem happier with their current account provider, with the majority not planning to switch (65%, 78% and 64% respectively).
• Banking Annoyances: Credit and debit card fees, as well as fees for various banking services, are the biggest annoyance for consumers worldwide (U.S. 34%, France 52% and Hungary 53%).
• Real-time payments schemes in the U.S. and Europe: Awareness among the real-time payments schemes to be launched in the U.S. and Europe is relatively low in all countries. 80 percent of consumers in France and 88 percent of consumers in Germany for example, are not aware of the Pan-European Real-Time Payments Scheme which will be launched in November. And 81 percent of U.S. consumers have not heard about The Clearing House real-time scheme that will come into effect in the US at the end of this year.
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Methodology and Demographics: All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 9,372 adults, 1,002 in Italy, 1,010 in France, 1,152 in United States, 2,104 in Germany, 2,078 in the UK, 1,000 in Hungary, 1,026 in Spain. Fieldwork was undertaken between 25th May - 5th June 2017. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all adults in each country (aged 18+).