British consumers are embracing financial technology, report shows

A report from UK banking and financial services trade association UK Finance and Big Four accountancy firm EY has shown that consumers in Britain are embracing fintech, with more people using new technology to interact with their bank.

The study showed that more UK consumers are using mobile banking, with the number of log-ins from mobile apps hitting 5.5 billion in 2017, up by 13% from the previous year.

Important

More people are also using other new technologies to communicate with their bank, with the number of webchats between banks and their customers reaching 5.5 million last year. This equates to 622 conversations an hour.  

Finance UK and EY revealed their predictions for new technologies over the next several years, with the report stating that voice activation and video banking will become more important and that banks will investigate adopting other technologies, such as virtual assistants and the Internet of Things.

Changing

Commenting on the rise in popularity of new technology, Stephen Jones, chief executive of UK Finance, stated that it is changing the way that consumers communicate, work and shop and that this has led to consumers changing the way that they manage their money.

“The assumption that British consumers shy away from talking about money looks to be consigned to the last century, as webchats and video banking prove increasingly popular,” he said, adding that with over 22 million Brits having downloaded banking apps, the trend of people using these technologies is not going away.