Today, global digital banking software provider CREALOGIX has released the results of a survey undertaken with UK consumers in partnership with Censuswide. The report confirms that new mobile banking features made possible by open banking are attractive to the majority of consumers. The availability of such features influences people’s choice of banking provider.

CREALOGIX surveyed UK consumers to understand whether people are aware of open banking, and the features that might make them more engaged with their current bank – or tempted to switch provider. Additionally, the survey investigated whether concerns about privacy and trust could act as a friction to adoption of open banking.

Key findings in the report include:

• Two thirds of bank account customers have never heard of the Open Banking initiative, yet two thirds of people surveyed are interested in mobile and digital banking features directly associated with open banking
• Over half of respondents cannot get open banking features from their current banking provider, and almost half of people surveyed would try out a new provider if it made open banking features available
• Consumers are interested in advanced open banking features related to payments and digital identity, as well as the more standard ideas of account information aggregation
• The majority of consumers are positive about potential future integrations such as managing utility bills and subscriptions from within financial apps;
• Respondents were concerned that open banking creates security and privacy risks: CREALOGIX has urged financial institutions to address these in detail as “security by design”
• UK consumers trust their banks above all other institutions, including government and big tech brands. This is described in CREALOGIX’s report as an opportunity for retail banking incumbents to use open banking as a competitive defence against a growing field of new challengers

CREALOGIX’s findings suggest that consumers are attracted to features that appear simple, but which may be complex for banks to implement in practice.

An example of this is the idea of automatically ‘sweeping’ funds between several independent accounts, including savings and credit cards. More than one in five UK consumers would like to have this digital banking feature. A similar proportion of customers would be interested in trying out a new provider if it offered money-moving features not available from their current bank.

Enabling such payment initiation services that work seamlessly between hundreds of different financial institutions is a significant technical and regulatory challenge for the industry. This is leading many established providers to look for support from technology specialists in order to deliver features to meet consumer demand.

CREALOGIX UK commercial director Jo Howes commented: “Within the industry, a lot of the focus so far has been on understanding regulations and figuring out details of new technology for secure data sharing. While all this is essential, consumers are far less interested in education or understanding how this all works. People want to use financial apps that make their lives easier and more secure, and they will change provider to get what they want. Financial institutions which have the ability to put innovations into customers’ hands faster have a key competitive advantage. Open banking offers a greater range of possibilities for differentiation than the industry has ever had before.”

CREALOGIX offers banks and wealth management firms digital banking engagement software, enabling financial institutions to deliver faster innovations to their end customers faster. Their latest UK consumer survey report on ‘Open banking: growing awareness and demand’ is available to download.