AMSTERDAM, Netherlands—A new report reveals 38% of all financial services applications in Europe are abandoned despite massive investment in digital transformation by institutions.
Although the 38% figure is an improvement on 2018’s high of 52%, it means that abandonment rates have returned to nearly the same level as 2016 (40%), according to the report from Signicat, a provider of verified digital identity solutions.
The third edition of Signicat’s study “The Battle to On-board III” is based on a survey of 3,500 adults across Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, the U.K. and Sweden about their digital onboarding experience with retail bank accounts, credit cards and insurance, reported socPub.
“When digitally onboarding customers institutions are required to comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) requirements. This requires personal information to be shared, and identity to be proven. But that is only the beginning, with usability and user experience becoming increasingly important to retain customers’ attention during the process,” noted socPub.
One Correlation
The ease with which consumers can complete an application mirrors the rate of abandonment, the study shows. In 2016 13% of applications were said to be somewhere between difficult and painful, a number that leapt to 32% just two years later. In 2019, consumers feel while the application process has improved, it hasn’t quite made it back to 2016 levels, with 24% saying that onboarding is difficult to complete or worse.