Member Article

UK consumers trust banks with their money, but not their data

NetApp, a global, cloud-led, data-centric software company, today reveals that UK consumers trust banks to protect their money more than their data, with 80% of Brits stating that they feel their money is safe at their bank, but only 66% feel the same when it comes to their personal data. In a survey of 800 consumers across the UK, Germany, France and Spain, the research details that whilst convenience is crucial, security concerns and a dislike of AI-based services are barriers to technology adoption in the financial services sector.

Convenience is key In a year like no other, it’s no surprise that consumers want convenient services as many have needed to adapt to online-first methods for almost everything, from shopping to virtual counselling. The financial services sector is no different. Many UK consumers have had to become comfortable with virtual banking due to the pandemic, with an overwhelming majority (82%) now preferring to access information or services from their banking provider via their website and 94% rating online banking as the most important banking service – higher than any of the other countries surveyed.

Trust is an issue for UK banking services Despite convenience being key for consumers, trust continues to cause issues for financial services. Even with the need for services to be online, NetApp’s survey reveals that many still feel held back from the convenience of online banking with more than half (53%) of UK consumers saying that if they knew more about the safety of online banking, they would start to use it or use it more often. In addition, whilst 82% of UK consumers like the convenience of paying through a third-party provider such as PayPal or Apple Pay, 64% are afraid their personal account data may be stolen by criminals if they use third party providers.

UK values in-person financial services, to detriment of convenience Yet, the value of an in-person relationship is still important to UK consumers, with over half still preferring to go into a branch (52%) to access information or services. Across all the countries surveyed, being able to contact a banking provider via voice chatbot does not rank high on the preference list. People prefer to talk to humans, with the UK ranking the highest of all countries surveyed with in-person face-to-face service (73.5%) ranking as the most important banking services available. By contrast, in the UK, 24/7 service via a chat bot (31.5%) and investment advice by Robo-Advisors (4.5%) ranked amongst the lowest.

“What we’re seeing here is that consumers in the UK want the convenience of online banking – they want services at their fingertips – but when it comes to dealing with financial decisions or answering important questions, UK respondents want in-person face-to-face services,” said Steve Rackham, Senior Solutions Engineering Manager, EMEA Global Finance at NetApp. “This suggests consumers don’t feel automated services such as chat bots of Robo-Advisors meet the level of service they require. It’s clear there’s much more innovation needed to build trust between UK consumers and automated financial services technology.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Steve Rackham .