Customers crave three things in their financial relationships: knowledge, control and freedom
- Incumbent banks risk being relegated to a passive role
Finastra has released research around ‘the journey to financial empowerment’ – a unique and comprehensive global ethnographic study that explores people’s feeling towards their money and the type of relationship they’d like to have with their banks.
Carried out between the second half of 2020 and early 2021, the key objective of this ethnographic research is to understand consumer attitudes towards digital banking and analyze the factors that could limit consumer adoption of innovative products and services. It is clear from the findings that consumers crave an improved overall digital experience and better relationships with their financial service providers that enable them to reach their financial goals more quickly.
The study has uncovered three key enablers that lead individuals to foster a good banking relationship and optimize their finances:
- Knowledge – A good understanding of the tools provided by the institution that manages their money
- Control – The sense of control that comes from being secure in this knowledge, and having the tools that empower them to feel in charge of their finances
- Freedom – The sense of freedom that is created when they take charge of their financial future