A new study conducted by True Digital in partnership with insight research company Strive has found that the British public still has concerns around FinTech adoption.
The study which spanned 12 months and looked into different areas that are causing market inertia in the finance industry found that despite leaps in FinTech innovation, the British public won’t be so quick to adopt new digital-only financial products.
Following the International Fintech Conference on 22nd of March, and Philip Hammond outlining his FinTech innovation strategy, the British public are unsure of how digital-only financial providers operate.
The two main concerns are around data privacy and how artificial intelligence will be used to offer products.
“2018 is shaping up to be a pivotal year in the financial services industry,” said True Digital managing director Tim Jones.
“For several years now, there has been much talk about digital transformation and the significance of FinTech but this is the year we will really see things come to fruition with the more mature, widespread application of technology-driven solutions.
“The challenge with FinTech innovation will be ensuring customers don’t get left in the dark about fundamental concerns like data privacy, customer service automation, and artificial intelligence.”
1,002 people were surveyed and the survey found that only 19 per cent of respondents were able to confidently say they know how tech companies use their data.
Trust drops even lower when asked which channels customers trust to keep their personal data secure, finding that only seven per cent trust a social media/communications brand such as Facebook or WhatsApp.
It also found that while 56 per cent of respondents are happy to use their bank’s app to transfer money, check their balance and pay bills, only 26 per cent have used a third-party digital payment method such as Apple Pay or Samsung Pay.
Just over a quarter of respondents believe that new digital and online providers will force high street banks and other providers to make big improvements.
However, when trying to understand why there is such little take-up of FinTech providers, 58 per cent of the British public agree that big banks should acquire FinTechs.
When asked how the finance industry should incorporate technology innovation, 13 per cent suggested ‘big tech’ (the likes of Amazon and Google) should enter the category and 28 per cent said growth of online-only banks.
Over a quarter of respondents said they feel uncomfortable with AI and have numerous concerns about artificial intelligence increasingly being adopted by financial services.
Over a third of the respondents said they don’t believe artificial intelligence advice will ever be better than advice from a qualified professional, while 27 per cent said they would be very suspicious of any financial advice provided by a bot.
With banks using APIs to make data sharing a lot easier in light of Open Banking, customers also still feel uncomfortable (79 per cent) with the notion that banks analyse their personal information to recommend more suitable financial products.