British consumers wary of new technology in banking
A new report published by ING shows how consumer’s rate of adoption when it comes to banking and technology does not necessarily meet the rate of innovation. Nearly a third (30%) of Brits say their bank is over-ambitious introducing additional services on different devices, saying they do not need or want more ways to interact.
At the same time, over two-thirds (69%) expect their bank to be delivering the latest technology to them and a third (34%) say that since they started using devices to manage their money, their financial goals are clearer.
ING published its seventh ING International Survey on ‘New Technologies’ today, with 14,824 respondents in 15 countries, including 13 across Europe, suggests that while Brits are optimistic about having the latest financial technology available to them, they are not necessarily adopting it as fast as it is becoming available.
For those who are using devices (i.e. tablets, phones or wearables) to manage their money, many agree they are keeping a closer track of their finances.
Since they started using devices to manage their money, 67% say they view their account balance more frequently, 32 percent say they take less risk with their money and 41% say they now think about money more.
The conflicting views on expectation vs adoption may be due, in part, to a lack of trust in technology and concerns over the security of how we interact with tools. Only half of Brits (52%) rate facial recognition as a secure tool. This coupled with two in ten (22%) who believe voice recognition is not secure, indicates a gap between services provided and accepted amongst consumers.
Further to this, 62 percent of people in the UK aren’t comfortable with a computer programme making investment decisions on their behalf and 41% say no to receiving recommended improvements to their spending habits from robo-advisers.
When it comes to awareness around financial data sharing innovations, such as the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), many are in the dark. 52% of Brits say they are not aware that in some countries, providing consent is given, financial providers can access information held by other companies (i.e. your bank).
Similarly, 64% say they would not be happy to use this and only 23% say it would be useful, signifying that more can be done to alert consumers to the potential benefits of these latest banking developments.
Jessica Exton, Behavioural Scientist at ING, said: “Many people are now mobile bankers, using multiple devices to manage their money on the go and across different platforms. Yet while a large majority agree that the latest financial technologies should be available to them, when it comes to newer digital ways of managing money, we see some hesitance around adoption.
“Over time and if new digital approaches are shown to be reliable, useful and socially accepted, it is possible that the uptake of services such as automatically generated advice for budgeting and even investing could be rapid. Consumers indicate that they want banks and other financial institutions to stay in the lead by developing new ways to help them manage their money despite any reluctance to accept them immediately.”