Google, Amazon Banking Could Spur Consumers To Switch Accounts

Could Google and Amazon capture the hearts and minds of banking customers, making inroads against traditional lenders?

Reuters reported that as many as one in three bank and insurance users, measured globally, “would consider” switching to those tech stalwarts, or even Facebook, if they were to offer up a slew of financial services, as found by a survey by Accenture.

The Accenture survey took the measure of more than 32,700 people across 18 countries. The demand is there for less human interaction and more reliance on technology to work with financial transactions across traditional banking and insurance firms. The highest tallies of those willing to make the switch to pure tech plays included Brazil, where 50 percent of respondents said they would consider switching, and that was followed by Indonesia at 47 percent.

Should Amazon, Google or Facebook step up to the plate and offer those services, 31 percent of all respondents said they would switch for banking, with 29 percent stating they would do so for insurance. About seven in 10 of those who responded to the survey said that they would look to use robo-advice in an effort to make a choice about which bank accounts to open.