Banks Insight | Fintechs
Rhys James
Director, Qualitative
Kantar TNS
Rhys.James@kantartns.com
Fintechs threaten,
but consumer
inertia protects
The fintechs present a threat to the big banks, but they face their own challenges. Yes, fintechs can innovate and build capability quicker, but they can’t invest in the same way the big banks can. The fintechs can’t fund themselves as cheaply as the banks. They don’t have access to the wholesale markets or access to cheap deposits, and that puts them on the back foot. At the same time, there is still a lot of consumer inertia around banking, certainly in the UK. Even younger consumers have that entrenched behavior of tending to go with the same bank as their parents, we continue to see low switching rates for Current Accounts which are the gateway product so customer inertia continues to play a role.
