A new survey has found marked differences between UK and US consumers around reasons to switch to digital-only banks.

The most common driver in the US is for sign-up benefits, but UK switchers prefer better overall rates.

The new study, by Juniper Research, is called Digital Commerce Survey: Consumer Attitudes to Mobile Banking, mCommerce & Contactless Report.

Digital integrations are less important to consumers, with 26% of US switchers reporting integration with other services as important.

In the UK, where Open Banking integrations are available, only 13% of switchers consider this a reason to switch.

The survey found that almost half of UK mobile banking users were unsure if they had used Open Banking services. This finding points to an awareness gap that needs closing for Open Banking to be successful.

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More than half of US consumers would consider digital-only banks

More than 50% of US consumers wanting to change banks would consider a digital-only bank, with the same finding reflected in a similar UK survey.

However, the findings showed that banks need to be more than technologically competent.

Users’ top priorities include sign-up benefits and good rates, which are often more important than digital features.

Card Usage Shifts the Contactless Payments Battle

The survey found that Covid-19 has greatly increased contactless payments use. Some 60% of US contactless users state Covid-19 safety as a reason to use contactless payments.

Despite the head start OEM Pay had in the US, 89% of American contactless payments users now use contactless cards, and 35% of current non-users are expecting to start using cards in future.

However, use of OEM Pay solutions remains strong, with 85% of US contactless users using at least one OEM Pay solution.

“Contactless cards have become a key feature for the US payment landscape, in large part because of COVID-19,” said research author James Moar.

“With strong OEM Pay usage, situational use of the different contactless payment solutions will emerge,” he added, “potentially leading to specialised solutions in future.”