Nearly Three-Quarters of Bank Customers Say Innovation Is What Keeps Their Business

For account holders at financial institutions (FIs), innovative financial products are increasingly becoming must-haves.

For PYMNTS’ study “Credit Union Innovation: The Race to Meet Consumer Demand,” which was done in collaboration with PSCU, we surveyed nearly 6,500 U.S. FI account holders about how they value different innovative products and services from their financial services providers. The results revealed that more and more of these account holders are considering the lack of innovation to be a dealbreaker.

The share of account holders who would switch or consider switching FIs if their institution did not offer innovative financial products has jumped by nearly half since 2018, when only 19% of account holders said they would do so. As of last year, that figure had risen to 29%.

“The increase in the proportion of FI account holders willing to switch to another FI to find more innovative products and services indicates the value consumers place upon innovation,” per the report.

Overall, 72% of FI account holders reported that they view innovation as important, as of 2022, with 47% of those surveyed reporting that they value innovation, even though it is not a dealbreaker on its own that would make them switch FIs.

Notably, however, while the share of FI account holders who view innovation as a must-have may have risen since 2018, the share that does not care about innovation at all has not decreased by much — less than a single percentage point.

In 2018, about 25% of account holders reported that they do not care about innovation or that they explicitly prefer that their FI would not innovate. While that figure rose and fell considerably in ensuing years, by 2022, that share amounted to about 24%.

As such, while account holders who value innovation are considering it more and more important, the needle has not moved much with those who do not.