42% of Consumers Want FIs to Offer Automatic Data Transfer When They Open New Accounts

Mobile devices’ proliferation and worldwide ubiquity have revolutionized many aspects of consumers’ lives, including their ability to communicate, travel and learn about the world. These tools empower individuals and enable new experiences, and they have also transformed how consumers transact with their financial services providers. Sixty-nine percent of consumers now bank using their financial institutions’ (FI) mobile apps, and 47% of consumers use these apps at least once per week.

PYMNTS’ research projects that close to 151 million adults in the United States opened a new financial account in the past 12 months, and approximately 155 million currently have a loan account open with an outstanding balance. Close to three-quarters of consumers have used a digital channel to open a new account or manage their loan payment. Although opening and managing accounts in a digital environment can beget security concerns, our research shows that more than half of consumers who provide access to financial data when opening accounts cite convenience as a reason for doing so.

These are among the findings to emerge from Account Opening And Loan Servicing In The Digital Environment, a PYMNTS collaboration with Finicity, a Mastercard company. Our research examined consumers’ comfort levels in opening new financial accounts and managing their loan accounts digitally, such as via web browser or mobile app. The series draws on insights from a survey of 2,303 U.S. consumers conducted from Dec. 6 to Dec. 12, 2021.

More key findings from the study include:

• More than half of consumers opened a financial account during the past 12 months, and three-quarters did so digitally. Consumers across all generations opened new financial accounts during the past 12 months, and most of these accounts were opened in a digital environment, such as a web browser or mobile app. PYMNTS’ research finds that 59% of U.S. adults — a projected 151 million — opened new financial accounts during the past year.

• Consumers increasingly use digital tools to manage and pay their loan accounts. According to our data, most consumers currently have a least one loan account open with an outstanding balance. Our research finds that most consumers manage these accounts in a digital channel, even those with higher balances. PYMNTS’ data finds that 61% of U.S. adults currently have a loan account open with an outstanding balance.

• Consumers are more comfortable digitally opening new accounts than digitally managing existing loan accounts. Digital tools for both account opening and loan servicing are readily available via web browser or mobile app, yet PYMNTS’ research finds that consumers are more comfortable opening new accounts in a digital environment than managing existing loan accounts this way. Nearly two-thirds of consumers are comfortable opening new financial accounts digitally, while less than half of consumers are comfortable managing loan accounts in a digital environment.

To learn more about consumers’ comfort level opening new financial accounts and managing their loan accounts in a digital environment, download the report.