The number of users of e-banking and mobile banking services hasn’t increased in Switzerland in recent years. But banks can still draw some satisfaction from the statistics.
About 10 percent of Switzerland’s population doesn’t use either electronic or mobile banking services, according to a survey conducted in 2018 by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts together with Ti&m, a Swiss provider of digital and security services.
The survey of 1,000 people living in Switzerland showed that 89 percent were using e-banking services provided by their banks. And 11 percent don’t use such services, which was only one percentage point less than in the most recent survey in 2017, according to the IFZ Retail Banking Blog of Lucerne University (release in German language).
Security Reasons the Top Priority
The main reason – with a reading of 37 percent – why people reject the offer of electronic services is their concern about security, with a further 30 percent mentioning their preference for a personal contact, making it the second-most important reason given.
The likelihood for someone not use online-banking services increases the smaller the income and the older the person is. Women use such services much less frequently than men (table below).
Mobile-Banking Users Are Slightly Younger
The average user of e-banking in Switzerland is 46 years of age. The average for users of mobile-banking services is five years younger. Mobile banking is mostly used for the purpose of checking the balance of the account and for making payments.
Two thirds of the online-banking service users check on their balance at least once a week; 25 percent communicate with their bank about once a month and about 18 percent execute a securities transaction in the same period.
Tailor-Made Services
Clients are using digital solutions actively to stay in contact with their bank. This is important for the companies and a key condition for financial-service firms to remain relevant players in a digital financial market.
The study authors however also say that banks should think carefully about how they can tailor-make digital services given the variance in the use of digital banking across the income spread.
