Digital natives are getting restless, says Accenture
Consulting firm Accenture has released the findings from a new Australian consumer banking survey, which found that almost a third of banking customers are 'nomads'.This is the term applied to "digitally savvy consumers who are more than willing to switch providers if they are not given options like peer to peer lending and mobile payment apps," Accenture's notes explain. These digitally savvy consumers are not exclusively millennials. In the survey, 43 percent of Nomads fall into the 22-34 age bracket, but more are older: 37 percent are between 35 and 50, and another 12 percent are over 50.According to Accenture, these consumers could be worth up to A$2 trillion for Australian banks if they change their strategies to embrace the nomads.Most fundamentally, the so-called nomads are "more demanding of convenience, insisting on being able to access services wherever they are, whenever they need them. They are more adventurous too - interested in experimentation and in helping to shape new products and services."Three-quarters of nomads in the survey said they would have no problem with setting up an account with an online bank themselves. Six in ten would consider setting up an account with a supermarket or a retailer. And more than three-quarters (77 per cent) would be willing to open an account with Amazon, Google or other non-traditional online service providers if it were on offer.Some nomad adventurousness, however, goes beyond what banks are currently willing to support. Nearly half of those in the survey (45 per cent) would like to have tools giving them direct access to digital forms of money, such as Bitcoin.The research also shows that over half of nomads (53 per cent) are interested in peer to peer payment services.