Classic online banking is becoming smartphone banking. For the first time, two-thirds (67%) of online banking users are using their mobile phones. One year ago it was 64%, three years ago it was only 52%. For the first time, half of people over 65 who bank online are using their smartphone to do so. A year ago it was only 33%. A total of 78 percent of Germans over the age of 16 do some or all of their banking online. These are the results of a representative survey of 1,004 people in Germany aged 16 and over.
“Corona has given online banking a huge boost. Anyone who uses online banking for the first time during the corona pandemic will usually stick with it even after the end of the lockdown and corona restrictions,” says Bitkom president Achim Berg. For example, 32% of people from Ages 65 and older use online banking, it was still 39 percent in 2021, but it will be just 22 percent in 2020. Among those aged 50 to 64, there's also a slight drop from 92 to 84 percent from 2021 to 2022 (2020: 87 percent) By contrast, 97 percent of people aged 16 to 29 and 30 to 49 currently do their banking digitally.
Online banking: Mainly account balance, bank transfer, standing orders
Simple applications dominate online banking. 92% query their account balance, 90% make transfers and 88% manage their standing orders. Offers beyond this are accepted much less frequently. Only 43% use digital banking services such as ordering transfers or credit cards or foreign cash for holiday travel, but 24% can imagine doing so in the future. A third (33%) manage investment and pension products online, 26% believe that this will be possible in the future. Only 28% get one-on-one advice on financial matters online and 30% are thinking about it for the future. And only 15 percent have already taken out loans in online banking, but 21 percent would consider doing so in the future. Berg: “Online banking is more than a digital transfer. Customers want to be able to do all of their usual banking services online, whenever and wherever they want. What is often still missing are corresponding and easy-to-use offers.
Online banking puts pressure on traditional branches
The share of those who only use online banking and no longer go to the branch has increased further. 4 out of 10 (41%) only use online banking, in 2021 it was 38%, in 2018 it was only 29%. At the same time, 46 percent mostly use online banking and occasionally visit a bank branch. 12 percent say they mostly visit a branch and only occasionally use online banking (2020: 7 percent, 2018: 17 percent).
45 percent of Germans say that nothing would be missing if there were no more bank branches. “The classic branch of a bank or savings bank is coming under increasing pressure,” says Berg. One in four (26%) have already moved to an online-only bank without a branch network with the account they primarily use. “Traditional banks should critically examine whether their digital offerings and business models are competitive in light of their customers' radically changed expectations,” says Berg. “Partnerships with startups from the fintech scene can make a lot of sense, as can partnerships with established digital companies.”