AUSTIN, Texas –Online and mobile offerings remain the primary areas of tech investments by financial institutions, but a new survey finds more than half of consumers say they will not open a checking account if the FI has limited branch and ATM locations.
According to a consumer study commissioned by Kasasa, 56% of the more than 2,100 Americans surveyed said branches and ATMs still matter to them.
Among other findings:
- A lack of up-to-date technology is another deterrent for opening an account at a local financial institution, with 22% of those who would not consider going local for checking accounts citing it as a factor. Modern technology appears to be most important to Millennials (ages 24-38) with 28% of those who wouldn’t open a checking account with a local institution citing lack of modern technology compared to 18% of Gen X (ages 39-53) and 14% of Boomers (ages 54-74).
- Inferior product offerings were the third most common reason for not selecting a local financial institution for checking account needs at 21%. In fact, the survey found 51% of Americans believe local financial institutions do not have the resources to offer the level of innovative, user-friendly products that national megabanks or online-only banks do.
The Real Message
“While this study reveals the primary hesitations consumers have with choosing a local community bank or credit union, most seem to prefer them over megabanks, 55% would consider a local financial institution to open a new checking account compared to 29% who would consider a national megabank,” Kasasa said in a statement. “This underscores the importance of delivering and effectively communicating to prospective customers and members accessibility of branches and ATMs, along with innovative, technology-driven products.”