Digital-only banks in consideration by over half of US and UK consumers – research. Good rates are often more important than digital features!

A new survey conducted by Juniper Research has found that more than 50% of US consumers wanting to change banks would consider a digital-only bank, with the same finding reflected in a similar UK survey.

However, the findings showed that banks need to be more than technologically competent; users’ top priorities include sign-up benefits and good rates, which are often more important than digital features.

Banking basics still important in a digital world

The new report, Digital Commerce Survey: Consumer Attitudes to Mobile Banking, mCommerce & Contactless, notes that there are marked differences between US and UK consumers around reasons to switch banks. The most common driver in the US is for sign-up benefits, but UK switchers prefer better overall rates.

Digital integrations are less important to consumers, with 26% of US switchers reporting integration with other services as important. In the UK, where Open Banking integrations are available, only 13% of switchers consider this a reason to switch. The survey found that almost half of UK mobile banking users were unsure if they had used Open Banking services; pointing to an awareness gap that needs closing for Open Banking to be successful.

Card usage shifts the contactless payments battle

The survey found that COVID-19 has greatly increased contactless payments use, with 60% of US contactless users stating COVID-19 safety as a reason to use contactless payments.

Despite the head start OEM Pay had in the US, 89% of American contactless payments users now use contactless cards, and 35% of current non-users are expecting to start using cards in future. However, use of OEM Pay solutions remains strong, with 85% of US contactless users using at least one OEM Pay solution.

‘Contactless cards have become a key feature for the US payment landscape, in large part because of COVID-19,’ research author James Moar remarked. ‘With strong OEM Pay usage, situational use of the different contactless payment solutions will emerge; potentially leading to specialised solutions in future.’