Digital banks such as Monzo and Revolut are on course to treble the size of their customer base within 12 months to more than 35 million people, according to research from Accenture.
The impressive growth of the challenger banks shows no sign of slowing down, as more customers crave the new technology of the fintechs.
Digital banks operating in the UK now have 13 million customers in Europe, with 5 million new accounts opened in the first 6 months of 2019.
The research forecasts traditional UK banks to grow by less than 1% by 2020 from 112 million global customers, based on the current trends.
“It’s becoming clearer that incumbent banks are going to continue to lose market share unless they begin meeting consumer demands”
Jouk Pleiter, CEO of Backbase, told TFT:
“Incumbent banks should take note. It’s becoming clearer that incumbent banks are going to continue to lose market share unless they begin meeting consumer demands and begin catching up with the digital capabilities of these challenger banks.
Currently, many banks simply can’t match the agility of these challengers. They need to be creating a fresh digital-first culture which focuses on creating truly customer-centric experiences. It’s now the most important thing for consumers.
It’s no secret that banks are pushing to hire tech savvy employees, but they must instil a top-down digital-first culture if they are to remain competitive and retain these customers.”
