The race for mobile in the banking sector continues, confirming itself as a consolidated trend, but the branch is always an important point of reference for customers, especially for more complex transactions. This is what emerges from the latest edition of CheBanca! Digital Banking Index, the observatory that measures the digitization of banking in Italy created by the Mediobanca Group institution dedicated to savings and investments.
In March 2017, there were 17,6 million users who habitually access current accounts via the Web or App, an increase of 8,9% compared to two years ago. If the majority use the web (72,2%), it is mobile users, driven by the strong diffusion of smartphones and apps, who have recorded the greatest growth, reaching 5,9 million users (+66% compared to 2015 ).
In practice, almost one account holder out of three (32,3%) is a mobile banking user, of which one million carry out their transactions exclusively through the App (5,3%). An unstoppable growth with considerable growth potential: there are, in fact, 5,5 million people who do not operate their accounts online despite having a current account and using the Internet on a regular basis.
But those who think that the branch no longer has a decisive role must think again. 76% of online current account holders go to the branch at least once every three months, mainly to update documentation or to carry out more complex operations, such as investments, savings management or trading, for which contact is preferred directly with bank staff.
An example? Although as many as 3 million digital banking users have a dossier / securities account for asset management, over 4 out of 10 do not manage it personally: of these, 71% prefer to rely on the advice and experience of their bank or a professional. Even an innovative tool such as the robo-advisor - a virtual financial advisor that offers personalized investment services - despite the fact that users' knowledge has grown considerably in the last year, it still remains a very limited phenomenon compared to its potential: over half they have never heard of it (51%), while less than two out of ten declare that they know it, 5% in detail and 14% in part.
“More relevant aspects emerge from the latest edition of the Digital Banking Index – declares Alessandro D'Agata, General Manager of CheBanca! – Despite the strong growth of digital banking in Italy, there is no absolute main channel, but instead there are more "consumption" profiles and habits to which the banking sector must be able to respond with adequate services. There are those who prefer the speed of online instead of the convenience of the App or those who don't want to give up the security of direct contact, especially for certain operations. For this reason, in addition to continuing to develop innovative solutions for online and mobile users, we will also continue to invest heavily in the network of branches and financial advisors, to meet the requests of customers who prefer direct and human contact with bank staff". .
While the branch is generally preferred for certain transactions, online account holders mainly carry out two activities via the web or via the App: consultation of the account statement and information documents (78%) and payment instructions (58%). On the other hand, the share of those who carry out more complex operations such as those related to asset management (10%), trading (8%) and investments (8%) is low. And the million users who exclusively use the App? Also in this case, these are fast and basic operations: 29% access to check balances and movements and 23% to make transfers and payments.
THE ON-LINE ACCOUNT PAYER PROFILE?
They are mostly males (56,4%) under the age of 45 (55%) and who live in the North (48,5%). The subjects with high availability of spending (above 2.000 euros per month) who operate online are about double that of the complementary segment of non-online customers (14,6% vs 7,8%). Every active current account holder makes an average of more than 3 accesses to the account via the web, with peaks in the summer and at the end of the year, and 14,6 million (77,1%) have at least one card (prepaid or credit).
