Australia has become the world’s most active online financial services market, with 64 per cent of retail banking customers managing their finances online this year, global consumer research has found. This is according to the findings from an online survey of more than 9,300 respondents in 12 countries, including more than 1000 in Australia.
This result ranks Australia as the top country, along with Canada, when it comes to managing finances online. The survey found the global average of retail banking customers managing their finances online was 57 per cent).
The research, published in the Publicis Sapient Digital Life Index 2021, shows that about half respondents said they still preferred to manage their finances online through websites, 33 per cent use mobile apps, and just 12 per cent prefer in-person interactions.
The Digital Life Index also shows that Australian customers remain amongst the most loyal to their banks or financial institutions globally, noting that 76 per cent of respondents are unlikely to change their banking or financial institution in the next 12 months, compared to the global average of 63 per cent. Interestingly, the most preferred offerings (33 per cent) that respondents want from their financial services companies are cash-back offers.
Only 23 per cent of respondents currently have a digital-only bank account (compared to the global average of 44 per cent), according to Neville Bagot, financial services lead for Publicis Sapient, a digital business transformation company.
"While customers are generally satisfied with their banks in day-to-day transactions, the pandemic has expedited their initiation into online banking and its ease of use," he said.
"It could potentially lead to a greater appetite for many customers, especially among the millennials and Gen Z cohort, to alternatively consider digital-only banks with the promise of better support and user experience."