Digital Banking’s Wealth Building Capabilities Appeals to Younger Consumers

Digital banking is delivering on promises of personalization and convenience, appealing strongly to younger consumers.

In Personalization Beyond Traditional Banking To Build Financial Wealth, part of The Digital-First Banking Tracker® Series, a PYMNTS and NCR collaboration, we explore the needs and wants of consumers using digital banking, looking at those most likely to take a non-traditional path.

This is particularly true for digital-first Generation Z and millennial consumers who show a preference for robust digital banking apps and solutions that help build and manage wealth.

“Younger workers no longer view the 401(k) as their lone path to retirement,” PYMNTS found. “Just 37% of Gen Z workers first invested through their 401(k) compared to 54% of millennials and 61% of both Gen X and baby boomers. Gen Z workers are targeting a broader range of retirement resources for their first-time investments, including 22% who used mobile trading, 11% who used cryptocurrency, and 10% who used traditional brokerage accounts.”

Digital banking’s rapid rise in the past few years has opened new doors for individuals seeking alternatives to traditional approaches to banking and investing. It’s a small but growing group.

“Recent PYMNTS research found that consumers whose primary banks are digital-only represent only 9% of banking customers, compared to the 21% who identify as primary traditional bankers, or customers who do not use FinTech banking services at all,” the study noted.

“Primary FinTech bankers” are nearly 20 years younger than primary traditional bankers, with average incomes $6,000 higher. “Auxiliary FinTech bankers” who prefer traditional financial institutions but add digital banks to the mix for access to mobile banking and other tools have the highest average income ($112,820).

The common ground in digital banking services among those using them are “personalized insights and customized app dashboards for authenticating users. Designing mobile banking dashboards to display key account information and streamline navigation” also rated highly.

Get the Tracker: Personalization Beyond Traditional Banking To Build Financial Wealth