We surveyed 500 UK adults to understand their views on this potential change, including how often they use contactless, how secure they feel, and what controls they’d like to see in a future without caps.

Quick Summary

• 77% of UK consumers use contactless card payments at least weekly
  
• Only 45% were aware of the FCA’s proposal to remove the £100 limit
  
• 53% feel positive about removing the limit, while just 20% are opposed
  
• The most popular option (51%) is for individuals to set their own limit
  
• 61% worry cards would become more valuable to steal without a limit
  
• Preferred safeguards include setting personal limits (50%), receiving instant notifications (49%), and requiring extra authentication (49%)
  

Contactless is the new normal

Contactless payments have moved from novelty to necessity in record time. Today, 77% of UK consumers use contactless at least weekly, with 30% using it daily. The most common purchases made via contactless are groceries (86%) and dining out (73%), clearly signalling that it’s firmly embedded in everyday routines.

The rise of mobile wallets has further accelerated the shift to contactless. With 75% of respondents using services like Apple Pay or Google Pay, smartphone wallets are now as mainstream as credit cards, which are held by 65% of respondents. Among younger consumers, smartphone wallets have overtaken debit cards as the most-used payment method. 

Currently, there’s no upper payment limit for mobile wallets – you can make payments above £100 without needing to enter a PIN. However, device payments are typically protected by biometric authentication (such as fingerprint or facial recognition), reducing the risk involved.  

Support for change – but with conditions

The majority of consumers (64%) are aware of the existing £100 limit on contactless card payments, but only 45% of respondents to our survey had heard about the FCA’s plan to scrap it. While knowledge of the proposed changes is limited, sentiment is generally positive: 53% of consumers feel good about the potential removal of the £100 cap (27% somewhat positive, 26% very positive), this is driven by feelings of greater convenience, speed, and flexibility when they are shopping. Just 20% are against it. However, this support is not without caveats.

When asked what they’d prefer, most consumers (51%) said they’d like to set their own transaction limit. Only 33% want to keep the £100 limit in place. Importantly, support for personalisation cuts across all age and income groups, though it’s most popular among younger adults (58% of 18-30 year olds).

Still, security is top of mind. 61% of consumers are concerned that cards would become more valuable to steal if limits are removed, while 40% worry about overspending. To address this, half want to set per-transaction limits, 49% want instant notifications when a contactless payment is made, and another 49% want PIN or biometric authentication for larger purchases.

Notably, only 23% favour daily or weekly spending caps, suggesting consumers prefer targeted, flexible security over blanket restrictions.

Attitudes vary by age, gender and income

Support for removing the limit is far stronger among younger consumers. Just over 65% of 18-30 year olds are positive about the change, compared to just 37% of those aged 50-67. Older adults are more than twice as likely to have negative feelings about the change (29% vs 11%), largely due to theft concerns.

Despite using contactless more often, younger people are also less aware of the current £100 limit and proposed changes. Only 47% of 18-30s correctly identified the limit, compared to 75% of those aged 50-67.

There are also clear gender differences. Men are more likely to be aware of the FCA proposal (49% vs 42% for women) and are slightly more in favour of removing the limit (55% positive vs 50%). Men are also more likely to favour customisable security features such as setting personal limits (56% vs 43%).

Income plays a role, too. High earners (£75k+) are more likely to be positive about removing the cap: 47% say they would feel ‘very positive’ about it, versus only 19% of those with a household income below £35k. Lower-income respondents are more concerned about overspending and more likely to prefer keeping the current limit in place.

What this means for financial services brands

The future of contactless isn’t just about convenience, it’s also about control. Consumers are comfortable tapping to pay, but they want the freedom to define how that works for them. Financial services brands that offer customisable limits, real-time alerts, and secure authentication options will be able to strike the right balance.

Awareness campaigns will also be critical. With nearly half of consumers unaware of such a significant regulatory proposal, brands have an opportunity to educate their customers and position themselves as transparent, consumer-first providers.

Crucially, 56% of consumers believe banks are ultimately responsible for preventing fraud on contactless purchases, and 53% say the same of card providers like Visa and Mastercard. This underscores the need for brands to take a proactive role in fraud prevention and clearly communicate what protections are in place.

Ultimately, contactless is only going to become more prevalent, and with the right tools in place, consumers are ready to tap into the next phase of digital payments.

The post Tap or Cap? What Consumers Really Think About Removing the £100 Contactless Limit appeared first on Attest.

In a recent survey conducted using the Attest platform, we asked 2,000 US and UK adults how well informed they felt about savings products, and then put their knowledge to the test. The results reveal a significant gap between consumers’ perceived understanding, and their actual knowledge of savings products.  

This knowledge gap is an opportunity for finserve brands to educate consumers about things like tax advantages, savings limits, interest rates, and returns. A better understanding could lead to a higher uptake of savings products, especially the lesser-known ones. 

Quick summary

• 50% of US consumers and 54.5% of UK consumers believe they are well informed about savings products.
• Most cannot identify the best and worst products for returns.
• 5 in 10 Americans and 4 in 10 Brits can’t correctly calculate interest.
• Only 35% of Brits know the annual £20,000 savings limit for ISAs.
• Consumers in both markets are most likely to have a traditional savings account, despite offering the lowest interest rates.

US results

Most Americans are familiar with traditional savings – but few go beyond

The first thing the data highlights is a big discrepancy between awareness of savings products and likelihood to be using them. Traditional savings accounts were the most recognised among US respondents (77%), while Certificate of Deposit (CD) and High Yield Savings Accounts (HYSA) also both enjoy relatively good awareness (61% and 54% respectively).

Just over half of the respondents were aware of Money Market Accounts (MMA), but awareness dropped off for bonds. Only 38% had heard of Series E or I U.S. savings bonds, while 45% had heard of municipal bonds. Cash management accounts had the lowest awareness, at 34% [view US results dashboard].

When it comes to the actual uptake of savings products among US consumers, the figures are significantly lower. Behind the traditional savings account, which 66% of Americans have, less than a quarter have a HYSA or CD. Only around 16% have an MMA or a cash management account, and around 11% have bonds. This suggests that barriers to entry – whether logistical, educational or behavioral – remain significant.

Consumers (wrongly) consider themselves well informed about savings products

One challenge finserve brands may face in educating consumers about savings products is that they already consider themselves pretty well informed. Overall, 50% of consumers said they are well informed about what’s available to them to help grow their money (although only 15% said they are “very well informed”). 

Less than a quarter of respondents said they were poorly informed on savings products, but 27% did admit to being somewhere in the middle when it comes to their knowledge.

Despite this self-confidence, when we asked respondents to identify the savings products with the highest and lowest Annual Percentage Yield (APY), a lack of understanding became apparent. For example, only 21.5% identified Certificate of Deposits as offering a high APY when, in reality, they yield some of the highest fixed rates, typically in the 4.5%–5% APY range.

Meanwhile, although half of respondents correctly identified traditional savings accounts as offering the lowest APY, 13% thought they provided the highest. Only 13% thought municipal bonds offered a high rate of return, however, top-rated 30-year municipal bonds are yielding about 4.56%, and are tax-exempt federally making a tax-equivalent yield above 7% possible. 

Confusion around how interest rates work

A lack of numeracy skills among the American public may explain the continued reliance on low-interest savings accounts. Many big-name banks offer virtually no interest – for instance, Bank of America’s Advantage Savings account pays just 0.01% APY, but but basic savings accounts remain the most popular savings vehicle. 

Our data shows the problem is that many people simply don’t understand how interest rates work. When we asked them to calculate how much interest they would earn in a year if they deposited $1,000 at a fixed annual interest rate of 3%, just over half correctly answered $30. 

Nearly 16% of respondents said $300, while around 9% answered $3 and $33. Only 15% admitted they didn’t know how to calculate interest. These results should serve as a reminder to finserve brands that financial literacy isn’t just about access to information, but the ability to apply it.

2025 US Spending Trends Report

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UK results

Ownership of savings products lags behind awareness

British consumers have reasonably high awareness of the different savings products on the market but when it comes to actual ownership, the figures are much lower. For example, while 75% of respondents had heard of a Cash ISA (making it the product with the highest overall awareness), a lesser 47% of people have one [view UK results dashboard]. 

Likewise, 60% of the respondents had heard of Premium Bonds (NS&I), yet only 24% have them. And while 55% are aware of Lifetime ISAs (LISAs), a tiny 13.5% of consumers use them. This suggests that while awareness of financial tools may be pretty high, finserve brands need to do more to translate that knowledge into action.

Meanwhile, there’s an opportunity to promote products that are less well known among UK consumers, including the Help to Save account for people receiving Universal Credit or Working Tax Credit (recognised by 33%), and the Innovative Finance ISA, which allows people to invest in peer-to-peer lending or crowdfunding debt-based investments (17%). 

Both of these products have a small uptake (12% and 8% respectively), showing large scope for growth – especially the Help to Save account. Following a change in eligibility criteria introduced in April 2025, approximately 3 million people are now eligible to open a Help to Save account.

Awareness doesn’t equal understanding

Our research shows that while a large percentage of consumers have heard of various types of ISAs,  knowledge about them is much lower. Only 35% of Brits could correctly identify the annual £20,000 savings limit for ISAs.

While 30% of respondents admitted they didn’t know how much they could save into an ISA each year, 15% incorrectly answered £9,000, 11% thought it was £15,000, 6% said £18,000, and 5% answered £24,000, highlighting the scale of the confusion. 

This is despite recent media coverage of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ proposal to lower the annual Cash ISA limit to £4,000-£5,000. Her aim is to encourage a shift toward Stocks & Shares ISAs, but our data suggests the government will need to launch a higher profile education campaign to achieve the goal.

Although 68% of respondents in our survey were aware of Stocks and Shares ISAs, only 30% have one. This suggests they are unaware that Stocks and Shares ISAs can offer much higher returns than Cash ISAs. According to the Guardian, investing £10,000 in a FTSE All-Share tracker over ten years could grow to nearly £18,000, versus around £11,500 in a Cash ISA. 

4 in 10 Brits failed a basic interest rate calculation

Core to any education campaign should be explaining how interest rates are calculated, since Attest’s data uncovered a notable lack of understanding. We asked respondents to calculate how much they would earn if they invested £1,000 at a 3% annual interest rate. 

While the correct answer – £30 – was selected by 62% of people, 14% thought it was £300, 8% said £33, and 6% answered £3. A further 10% said they didn’t know. These responses suggest that understanding of even basic financial maths remains limited among a significant proportion of the population.

The inability to calculate interest rate is no doubt contributing to confusion among UK consumers about which financial products offer the best returns. Only 10% of Brits think Regular Saver Accounts/Building Society Monthly Savers provide high interest, yet these accounts offer some of the best fixed returns – up to 7.5% AER for limited monthly deposits.

Similarly, only 13% of respondents think NS&I fixed-rate bonds are among the best products for returns, but these provide a solid 4.18% AER (slightly below the top market rates but government-backed for security). Despite these clear misconceptions, 54.5% of consumers believe they are well informed about savings products (only 20% think they are poorly informed).

Meanwhile, although people are most likely to rate traditional savings accounts as offering the lowest rate of return, it remains the savings product they’re most likely to own (55%). With traditional easy‑access savings account AER currently standing at around 2.3%, millions of savers stand to benefit by moving to a different savings vehicle. 

2025 UK Spending Trends Report

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What this means for financial services brands

In both the UK and the US, financial services brands face a common challenge: bridging the gap between recognition and informed usage.

Consumers know the names of products, but often struggle to compare them or calculate returns. Messaging that focuses on rates or technical features may miss the mark if people don’t understand the fundamentals.

Brands that position themselves as educators and simplifiers, breaking down the what, why and how of savings, stand to drive adoption.

The post The savings knowledge gap – and how finserve brands can help close it appeared first on Attest.

Across both the US and UK, affordability, a lack of knowledge and fears of government cutbacks are keeping people from feeling secure about their future.

Our latest research digs into what people really want from their pensions, what’s stopping them from saving and what they dream about for their retirement. 

From inflation and performance concerns to the desire for personalised advice, these insights can help pension providers and their insights teams understand how to better connect with today’s cautious but hopeful savers.

Quick pension insights summary

Here’s a TL;DR rundown of the key findings from our research:

• In the US, 27% don’t have a pension at all; 41% have a workplace pension, 30% rely on Social Security and 21% have a private pension
• 43% of Americans worry most about inflation eroding their pension; 39% fear outliving their savings
• 50% of Americans would consider switching pension providers for better investment performance; 85% say personalised advice is important
• In the UK, only 34% expect to rely on the state pension despite 80% qualifying for it; 51% have a workplace pension
• 49% of Brits are most worried about state pension cutbacks; 48% fear inflation
• 42% of Brits would switch providers for better performance; 89% want personalised pension advice

US pension insights

A quarter of Americans don’t have a pension

Our research found that 27% of respondents in the US don’t have any pension. There are of course several reasons for this – low or irregular income, immigration status or lack of awareness being some. 

Meanwhile, 30% said they do have Social Security, and 41% said they have a workplace pension arranged through their employer, with 14.5% also having a defined benefit/final salary pension. A further 21% have a private pension they arranged themselves. 

Inflation is people’s main pension concern

A sizable 43% of Americans told us they’re most worried about inflation eroding the value of their pension – and this percentage is fairly consistent across the age groups. 

Outliving savings came second overall – 39% chose this. Interestingly we see a particular spike for the 45–54 age group, with 47% stating this as a top key concern. This compares with just 32% of people aged 55–64.

Government/state pension cutbacks was chosen by 35% of our US respondents, with 30% choosing market volatility. And not getting enough advice was chosen by just 16% overall – but we see this rise significantly in the younger groups, with 27% of 18–24s and 23% of 25–34s worried about a lack of guidance.

Performance, lower fees and more flexibility are switching drivers

When asked what might make people think about changing their private or workplace pension provider, the outcome was:

• Better investment performance – 50%
• Lower fees – 38%
• More flexible retirement income options – 38%
• Better pensions guidance and advice – 28%
• Easier online management – 24%
• Better visibility on pension’s progress – 22%
• Easy switching process – 18%
• Better customer service – 17%
• Ethical/sustainable investment choices – 16%

And it seems that personalized pension advice or guidance should be a no-brainer for providers in 2025. A huge 85% of respondents told us it’s important to them, with just 13% saying it’s not important.

Affordability and knowledge are top reasons people don’t have private pensions

A third of our US respondents told us that one of the main reasons they don’t currently have a private or workplace pension is that they can’t afford to save right now. We see this percentage rise to 36% for people aged 25–34 and to 38% for those aged 35–44. 

The second highest overall response was that people don’t know enough about pensions to set one up – 20.5% of the US population said this. We see a sizable uptick for the youngest group, with 36.5% of people aged 18–24 saying this, showing that education among even this youngest group is a key driver to get people saving.

Family time, new hobbies and traveling are top of the retirement wish list

Across all age groups, our research shows that people’s number one goal for retirement is to spend more time with their family. Almost three in five (59%) chose this. 

Taking up hobbies came second overall, with over half (51%) planning this. Traveling came a close third with 50% hoping to jet off when they retire.

And thinking about their main financial goal for retirement, covering basic living expenses is at the top – 41% will prioritize this. 35% want to maintain their current lifestyle, while 12% are focused on leaving an inheritance – a percentage that drops to 4% for people aged 45–54. 

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UK pension insights

Only a third of Brits expect to rely on their state pension

We asked our UK respondents which types of pension they have. Surprisingly only a third (34%) actively chose the state pension – particularly surprising when 80% of people who reach pension age will receive the full state pension. This shows that there’s potentially a lot of education the government and financial institutions can do to help people understand what they’re entitled to. 

A larger 51% of the population told us they currently have a workplace pension, with a further 28% saying they have a private pension they arranged themselves. 

Government cutbacks worry pension-holders the most

Almost half of our respondents (49%) told us what worries them the most about their pension is state pension cutbacks from the government. This percentage rises with each successive age group, with 59.5% of people aged 55–64 choosing this option. 

Inflation is also a big worry, with 48% of people overall choosing this as a concern. A further 36% are concerned about outliving their savings, with 30% stating market volatility as a worry. 

Pension-switching Brits want better investment performance

More than two fifths (42%) of our UK respondents said that better investment performance would make them think about changing their private or workplace pension provider – more than any other option:

• Better investment performance – 42%
• Lower fees – 34.5%
• More flexible retirement income options – 33%
• Better visibility on pension’s progress – 31%
• Better pensions guidance and advice – 30%
• Easy switching process – 28%
• Easier online management – 23%
• Better customer service – 18%
• Ethical/sustainable investment choices – 15%

Nine in 10 people want personalized advice

Among our UK respondents, a sizable 89% think personalized pension advice and guidance is important. 

There’s a particular appetite for advice in one age group. Of people aged 25–34, a huge 97% said it’s important to them. This gives providers some direction on who to aim guidance towards to gain traction.

Overall, just 2% of Brits told us that pension advice and guidance wasn’t important to them.

Affordability is holding people back from private pensions

Among those who don’t have a private or workplace pension, 40% told us a main reason was that they can’t afford to save right now. 

Meanwhile 22% said they plan to start a pension in the future, but haven’t got around to it yet. And 14% said they simply don’t know enough about pensions to set one up – again showing the need for education on pensions and retirement planning. 

Family time is people’s top retirement goal

Three fifths (61%) of our UK respondents said they hope to spend more time with family when they retire. This interestingly drops slightly to 48% for people aged 45–54, and is highest for people aged 25–34, 73% of whom look forward to family time. 

Traveling came out as the second most popular retirement goal – 55% hope to jet off. And 54% told us they hope to take up some new hobbies. 

Thinking more financially, Brits’ top goal for retirement is to maintain their current lifestyle – 41% chose this. And a third (33%) want to simply cover their basic living costs. Meanwhile 15% are thinking predominantly about leaving an inheritance to their loved ones.

Don’t forget – you can dig into the data for yourself if you head over to our interactive dashboard.

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The post What pension savers aren’t telling you appeared first on Attest.

It’s no longer about hygiene, though. This trend is particularly noticeable in fast-casual restaurants, coffee shops, and retailers in transit locations (like train stations), where digital payments offer speed, convenience, and reduced security risks.

However, the shift away from cash has raised concerns about excluding unbanked or underbanked individuals, prompting calls for legislation to mandate cash acceptance. In the US, some cities and states – including New York City, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and New Jersey – have enacted laws requiring businesses to accept cash. In the UK, the government has not mandated cash acceptance, allowing businesses the discretion to choose their preferred payment methods.

To get consumers’ view on the importance of cash in society, and to find out how they typically use – or don’t use – it, we conducted a nationally representative survey of 1,200 people aged 18-67 in the UK and the US. 

Quick summary

• 23% of consumers in the UK and 30.5% in the US prefer to pay with cash given the option.
• Core reasons for preferring cash include it providing protection from fraud and being viewed as more reliable.
• 34% of Brits and 32% of Americans are against businesses that do not accept cash.
• 38% of UK consumers and 42% of US consumers would welcome a cashless society. 
• Card and device payments are most popular overall but more than half of people in both markets worry about the reliability of digital payments.

UK results

Cash has regained popularity

We last surveyed UK consumers about their use of cash in 2021. Back then, only 16% of the population preferred to pay for things with cash. Today, that figure has risen to 23%. This resurgence is seen across all age groups, with the biggest uplift recorded among the over 50s, 28% of whom prefer cash (a +10 point increase) [view UK dashboard].

The reasons that consumers favour cash have also shifted: in 2021, the main reason was that it helped people to avoid overspending (49%). While this is still a major motivator for using cash in 2025 (51%), consumers primarily like hard money because they view it as “more reliable” (55% up from 41%). They’re also more likely to favour it because it “protects them from fraud” (47% up from 39%). 

These views may be influenced by recent events including cyber attacks on UK high street stores like M&S and Co-op, as well as the power outages in Spain and Portugal that led to businesses being unable to accept digital payments. The data finds that 59% of people worry about power cuts or hacking attacks causing digital payments to fail.

More British consumers are carrying cash

Brits are more likely to have cash in their wallets in 2025: 23% say they always carry cash – which is an increase of +6 points since 2021 – and a further 27% of people usually have cash on them. The percentage of people who don’t like paying cash has also declined: 41% prefer not to carry out transactions using cash, compared with 54% previously. 

34% of British consumers are against cash-free businesses

So how do British consumers feel about businesses that don’t accept cash? Nearly 34% say they’re against cashless businesses, while 16% are in favour. But the majority (50%) are happy to leave it up to the business to decide. It’s worth noting, however, that opposition to cash-free businesses increases with age.

The amount of consumers who say they would welcome a cashless society has fallen by -5 points to 38%. Under 30s are the demographic most in favour of a world without cash: 26% strongly agree they would welcome it, versus 20% of 31-49-year-olds and just 8% of over 50s.  

Digital payments still rule 

Despite the resurgence in cash payments, the majority of UK consumers would opt to pay with either a card (50%) or device (26%). The popularity of device payments has increased by +8 points since 2021. They’re especially popular with the 18-30 age group, 40% of whom say it’s their favourite way to pay in-store. 

Of those who prefer to pay with a card or device, the main reason for doing so is convenience: 73% say they find it a more convenient payment option (up from 63% previously). That’s probably because 40% of those who favour digital payments tend not to carry cash, although this has declined from 47% in 2021.

 Today, only 6% of people who prefer digital payments regard cash as unhygienic – that’s compared to 18% immediately post-pandemic. 

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US results

Three in 10 Americans prefer cash

We don’t have historical data from the US to benchmark against, but today’s results show 30.5% of American consumers prefer to pay in cash if given the opportunity. This is a universal preference, with all age groups in agreement [view US dashboard].

However, different demographics have different reasons for favoring cash. Those aged 18-30 choose it because it prevents overspending (45%), while 31-49-year-olds believe cash is “more reliable” (54%), and over 50s think it provides protection from fraud (55%).

Interestingly, those aged 31-49 over-index for saying they get paid in cash: 24%, versus 13% of over under 30s and 10% of over 50s. Only 4% of Americans in our survey say they don’t have access to another means of payment, but 31% are attracted to cash because it means they don’t have to share their data. 

Going cashless might alienate older consumers

Younger Americans are more likely to be in favor of a cashless society than against it, but those aged 50-67 firmly oppose the US becoming a cash-free nation. Just over 50% say they wouldn’t welcome a cashless society (while only 30% would). That’s in comparison to 25% of under 30s and 28% of 31-49-year-olds who are actively against the idea. 

41% of American consumers are against cash-free businesses

When it comes to businesses not accepting cash, the over 50s are most likely to object: 41% say they’re against cashless businesses, versus 28% of the younger age groups. And although half of over 50s are happy to leave it up to the business to decide whether or not to accept cash, businesses that do opt to ban cash risk alienating a significant percentage of that demographic.  

With that said, if your brand is targeting consumers in the Millennial bracket, focusing on digital payments might make sense. A quarter of this demographic (more than any other) strongly agree they would welcome the prospect of a cashless society, with 53% preferring not to carry out transactions with cash. 

Digital payments preferred, but reliability concerns are high

Although more than half of each age group tends to carry cash in their wallets, most consumers prefer to use a digital payment method. Cards are the most popular payment type overall, but under 30s are more likely than other age groups to choose device payments (19%).

The top reason for favoring digital payments is the convenience they offer (58%), but another benefit is that paying digitally helps people to keep track of what they’ve spent (40%). While those of all ages agree on these advantages, under 30s over-index for using cards to help them build their credit score (22%) and also because they worry about losing cash or being shortchanged (20%). Meanwhile, those aged 50-67 are significantly more likely than other age groups to favor card payments because they can earn points or cashback (39%). 

Despite the benefits offered by digital payments, providers should note a reasonable amount of concern among US consumers surrounding their reliability. More than half of Americans worry about power outages or cyber attacks causing digital payments to fail. This fear is most pronounced among the under 30s, 57% of whom agree it worries them.

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The post Cash is back: hard money sees a post-pandemic resurgence appeared first on Attest.

In this article, we explore what consumers in the US and UK really think about AI in their banking, credit, investment and budgeting tools, using new data from our own consumer research. The data highlights where AI is welcomed, where it triggers discomfort, and what financial services providers need to do if they want to build lasting confidence in AI-powered products.

Take a look at our interactive dashboard to dig into responses and segments. 

Quick summary

Here’s our TL;DR summary of the latest insights on AI in financial services:

• 62% of Americans are comfortable with AI detecting fraud – the most trusted use case.
• 59% of Brits want full transparency about how and when AI is used by their financial providers.
• 58.5% of Americans and 59% of Brits want the option to speak to a human at any time, even when AI is involved.
• 56% of Americans and 55.5% of Brits expect AI to improve their finances in the next five years.
• 47% of Americans and 45% of Brits are comfortable with AI making loan or credit card decisions, with around 30% feeling actively uncomfortable – showing hesitancy in high-stakes areas.
• Top concerns include data privacy, loss of human interaction, AI errors, job displacement and algorithmic bias.

US AI in finserv insights

Americans are tentatively comfortable with AI

We asked our US respondents how comfortable they’d be with AI being used in a few key areas of their financial lives. For every option, a majority of Americans say they’re either comfortable or very comfortable:

• Detecting fraud or suspicious activity – 62% are either comfortable or very comfortable
• Personalised offers or product recommendations – 62% 
• Budgeting help or spending insights – 60.5%
• Customer service – 56% 
• Investment advice or portfolio management – 47%
• Loan or credit card approval decisions – 47%

We generally see younger groups – particularly those aged 25–44 – are significantly more comfortable than older groups. However the youngest group – people aged 18–24 – don’t show the same enthusiasm as those other younger groups. 

There’s also a gender split when we look at the crosstab. For each option, males are more comfortable than females. We found that females show more indifference or clear discomfort with most elements of AI in financial services. 

Three fifths still want a human option 

Our results show that three fifths (58.5%) of Americans still want the option to speak to a human at any time, to help them trust financial services that use AI. 

Meanwhile half of our respondents (51%) want to know their data is handled securely and ethically. Almost 40% want to see a strong track record of fair and accurate decisions, and 38% want a clear explanation of how the AI works.

Looking again at the gender split, females show a greater desire for almost all the options. But males over-index for wanting to see a strong track record and for independent audits or regulation. 

Most people think AI will improve their finances

Over half (56%) of Americans told us they think AI will improve their personal finances in the next five years. This percentage rises to 65% for people aged 18–34, but then shows a downward trend as we work our way up the age groups. 

We found that 15% of people think their finances will be harmed by AI. There’s a cliff between the 35–44 and 45–54 age groups: 12% of the former said AI will harm their wallet, while 20% of the latter said the same. 

Males remain positive about AI’s effect on their finances: 64% said they expect theirs to improve because of AI, compared to 48% of females. 

US shoppers want AI transparency

Well over half (55%) of our respondents said they want full transparency from their financial providers about when and how they use AI. A further 26% want a basic overview, as long as they can get more detail if they want it. 

Only 3% of Americans from our survey don’t need to know about AI from their financial providers, as long as the service works well. And 9% said they’d prefer not to have AI used by their providers at all. 

What are Americans’ main concerns about AI in finserv?

We asked respondents to tell us what concerns them most about the use of AI in financial services. Here’s our AI summary of their responses:

• Data privacy and security concerns are the most prevalent, with many fearing personal information could be leaked, stolen or hacked through AI systems.
• Lack of human interaction is a significant concern, with respondents preferring to speak with real people for financial advice and problem-solving rather than relying on AI.
• Fear of AI errors and inaccuracies that could lead to financial losses, incorrect financial advice, or unfair decisions in lending or credit scoring.
• Concerns about job displacement as AI replaces human workers in the financial services sector.
• Algorithmic bias and transparency concerns, with worries that AI might make unfair decisions without clear explanations of how conclusions are reached.

UK AI in finserv insights

Brits show general comfort with AI in finserv

Our respondents said they were mostly comfortable or very comfortable with AI being used in all of the options we gave them:

• Detecting fraud or suspicious activity – 63.5% are either comfortable or very comfortable
• Personalised offers or product recommendations – 63% 
• Budgeting help or spending insights – 62%
• Customer service – 55% 
• Investment advice or portfolio management – 43%
• Loan or credit card approval decisions – 45%

However, a still significant 31% of Brits said they’d be uncomfortable with AI being used for investment advice or portfolio management, and 30% would be uncomfortable with it being used for loan or credit card approval decisions. 

And although we generally see younger groups showing more comfort with AI and older groups expressing greater discomfort, the youngest age group throws us a curveball. People aged 18–24 don’t show any notable increase in comfort with AI in finserv. In fact the only option they over-indexed for was for a greater level of discomfort with AI being used for loan or credit card approval decisions. 

UK shoppers want access to a human

Three fifths (59%) of our UK respondents want the option to speak to a human at any time – this is what would make them more likely to trust financial services that use AI. 

Meanwhile 52% want to know their data is handled securely and ethically, and 39.5% want to see a strong track record of fair and accurate decisions. 

One interesting outlier is that people aged 25–34 are particularly keen to see positive reviews or recommendations from other users. Almost half (47%) of that age group chose that, compared to the UK average of 34%. 

More than half expect personal finance improvements due to AI

Over half (55.5%) of our UK respondents said they expect their personal finances to improve in the next five years as a result of AI. There’s particular optimism from younger groups, with 67% of 18–24s and 78% of 25–34s expecting improvements. 

Just 11% of respondents said they thought their finances would be harmed by AI. Interestingly, we see the youngest group – those aged 18–24 – show an uptick here, with 16% expecting AI to harm their finances. 

Brits want full AI transparency

Almost three fifths (59%) of Brits say they want full transparency from financial providers about how and when they use AI. Interestingly we see this percentage jump to 68% for people aged 25–34, a group that also shows greater keenness overall for AI financial services. 

A quarter (24%) of our respondents would like a basic overview of AI in their financial services, as long as they can get more detail if they want. 

Only 2% of Brits don’t need any transparency, and a further 6% would prefer not to have AI used at all for their finances. 

Privacy and human connection are Brits’ top concerns

We asked our UK respondents to tell us what concerns them most about the use of AI in financial services. Here’s our AI summary of their responses:

• Data privacy and security concerns, including fears about personal information being accessed by hackers, leaked or misused
• Lack of human interaction and oversight, with worries about not being able to speak to a real person when needed and missing the personal touch
• Concerns about accuracy and reliability of AI systems, including potential errors in financial decisions and advice
• Fears about bias, discrimination, and lack of transparency in AI decision-making processes
• Job displacement concerns as AI automation replaces human workers in financial services

Take a look at our interactive dashboard to dig into responses and segments. 

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Inflation is putting household budgets under huge strain, and consumers are having to make some tough choices. We know from our UK and US inflation sentiment trackers that people are cutting back even on essential items like food and fuel… so, then, what can brands do to become indispensable at this time?

We decided to investigate this by asking 500 consumers in both the US and UK what brands they’ll be sticking with during the cost of living crisis – and then exploring their reasons why. By looking at the roots of their brand loyalty, we’ll uncover how other brands can also become indispensable to their consumers. Read our findings below or dig into the data for yourself.

Three key takeaways were: 

1. Inflation is leading to wide scale behavioral change that’s putting brand loyalty on the line, with a lot of relationships and patterns in flux right now. 
2. Most consumers have at least one brand they don’t want to switch from despite inflationary pressures.
3. The longer the relationship with a brand, the greater the commitment but true customer understanding can supercharge loyalty. 

Brands are at high risk at a time of dramatic change 

To put the scale of the problem into perspective, we first asked respondents if they were changing their shopping habits to save money because of inflation. In the UK, the chief behavioral change is switching to cheaper brands, which 62.4% of consumers say they are doing (versus 53.2% in the US). 

In the US, we see people are most likely to be reducing the frequency of non-essential purchases, so buying less rather than buying cheaper (57.4% of Americans are doing this versus 55.6% of Brits).

We also see a significant amount of shoppers in both nations simply stopping buying certain things or cancelling services, which is bad news for any brand producing non-essential products. Just over half of Brits say they are doing this, versus 48.2% of Americans.

Our favorite brands

With so many people changing their purchasing habits to save money, we wanted to know, are any brands sacrosanct? How many consumers have such a level of brand loyalty that they wouldn’t consider buying a cheaper alternative? Which brands maintain loyalty, against all costs, inflation and new pressures? 

The UK demonstrates more brand loyalty than the US, with 78.6% naming a brand they’re wedded to (versus 69.4% in the US). However, we still see a notable percentage of people in each nation who show no commitment to any brand. 

Now let’s take a look at the brands consumers were most likely to name… In the UK, the top five were Heinz, Nike, Tesco, Coca Cola/Coke and Netflix. 

In the US, the top five brands were Nike, Amazon, Tide, Coca Cola/Coke and Adidas. It’s interesting to note that two brands – Nike and Coca Cola – make it onto both nation’s must-have lists. The strength of feeling for Nike, in particular, is impressive, with the footwear brand coming out yards ahead of the others. We’ve explored previously what makes Nike’s marketing so effective at building brand loyalty.

Loyalty is built over time

It won’t come as any comfort to young brands that the core reason for consumers to stick with a brand through difficult economic times is the length of their relationship with it. Nearly half of Americans and 43% of Brits said their favorite brand was indispensable to them because they’d been buying it for a long time. 

So if loyalty is built over time, what can you do to fast-track it? This comes down to the strength of your product and the value it offers. Half of Americans say a brand that offers excellent value is indispensable, while 33.8% of Brits say the same. This isn’t just about being the cheapest; it’s heavily tied to quality, as highlighted by the next most important factor: superiority. Just over 39.0% of Americans and 36.6% of Brits say their favourite brands are superior to competitors.

Having to be better than the rest is a tall order – famously, there are no simple shortcuts to generating brand loyalty. But there are two other reasons that people remain loyal to brands, which provide additional goals to aim for. A significant 39.0% of Americans, and just over a quarter of Brits, say they’ll stick with brands that improve the quality of their lives. Meanwhile, 21.4% of US consumers, and 12.8% of UK shoppers, say a brand that forms part of their identity is one that’s indispensable to them.

By gaining a deep understanding of what makes your consumers tick, and what their most important needs are (hello, consumer research!), you’ll be able to hone your unique value proposition, brand image and messaging. Ultimately, this will help your brand to become an integral part of their lives more quickly. 

There’s more data for you to delve into in the full US survey and UK survey, and if you want to find out how to become indispensable to your customers then get started with a free survey below..

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As a scientist, I am obsessed with experimentation, empiricism and using data to make decisions. We’ll delve into all things consumer research to lift the lid on the most important unknowns for brands, as requested by you!

Introduction

As cryptocurrencies continue to make waves around the world, is it time for traditional banks and financial institutions to offer customers greater access to crypto features and services? 

To find out if consumers have the appetite for this—and if not, why not?—we asked a nationally representative sample of 1,000 Americans for their views on banks offering crypto options. 

Over on the Attest dashboard you can see the full results from this financial market research, break it down with the demographic filters and run significance tests to check for headline differences. 

Top takeaways from the research

To whet your appetite, here are four top takeaways from this research:

1. Nearly half (49%) of people would at least consider switching to a bank that offers crypto products. 
2. Lack of knowledge and trust are still key reasons people aren’t yet ready to invest in crypto.
3. Despite males being more likely than females to invest in crypto, females show higher levels of trust (and potential for market growth) in the world of crypto.
4. …but, when asking real consumers to rank key bank features, investment in stocks and crypto came bottom in our list of importance. This is all very interesting, yet not a priority for many.

Results

Crypto isn’t a top requested feature overall

Which features do people most want from their financial services provider(s)? Asked to rank key bank features, investment in stocks and crypto came bottom in our list of importance: a sizable 39% placed this in last position. A signal here of crypto’s still-emerging status. 

What are people’s top bank features? The overall ranking of features was:

• No hidden fees
• Zero ATM fees
• Easy money-transfers to friends/family
• A 24/7 dedicated support
• High-yield savings account options
• Budgeting tools
• Easily invest in stocks & crypto

In line with some other Attest Investigates on other topics recently, consumers often value the simple things—and we can clearly see that there’s great opportunity for financial services providers to do those simple things better (before getting jazzy with new, cool and sexy things like crypto investing).

Lack of Information is a key crypto deterrent 

We asked how often, if at all, people purchase with or trade cryptocurrencies. Of the 34% who said they don’t invest, their top reason is lack of information (45% selected this). Lack of trust and fear of losing money are also key factors, with 39% and 31% choosing these respectively.

This echoes trends we’ve seen in previous research on ‘How US consumers will be won over by cryptocurrencies’, which highlights lack of knowledge as a key reason people have for not investing in or using cryptocurrencies. This is something crypto providers must tackle if they stand any chance of bringing the format truly into the mainstream.

In this new research we also found that lack of disposable cash might also be holding people back. We asked ‘Under what circumstances would you most consider investing in cryptocurrencies?’, and the top response was ‘If I had extra money every month to invest’. Could this open the door to offers like new customer cash incentives for using banks’ crypto features—borrowing some market expansion and marketing tactics from players like Hello Fresh (and their famous ‘$35-50 off your first box’ promotional cards)?

Big opportunity for banks to include crypto features on apps

If banks started adding crypto investment options to their existing product sets, would this help consumers dip their toes into the crypto waters? It appears so, with nearly half (49%) of people saying they’d be likely or very likely to use or try a feature like this. 

On the other side of the crypto coin, almost a fifth (19%) say they’re unlikely or very unlikely to use this feature. That’s also a significant amount of unwilling customers—not something for banks to ignore. But I’m sure the fact that half of people are interested in this will come as welcome news to Commercial and Product leaders of financial institutions. 

There’s also the potential to win over currently indifferent consumers with a feature like this. A third (33%) of respondents are neither likely or unlikely to use an in-app crypto feature, and when we filter the results to see how these particular respondents answered the rest of the survey, we see that they over-index for lack of knowledge as a key deterrent—49% chose this, compared with 45% overall. Certainly an opportunity here to win over the neutrals with that all-important education.

Bringing it all together

Something of a consistent theme we see in a lot of research is that lack of knowledge is a primary factor holding back growth for many new products and services. And we see this most emphatically for financial services—people are (likely) rightly cautious about adopting new offerings when their financial wellbeing is at stake. 

Our new crypto research here has only emphasized this—it’s up to brands to make sure their market education and marketing campaigns are genuinely informative and easily understood by a mainstream audience, especially when it comes to opening-up new products, concepts, ideas and addressable markets.

And although we’ve found that explicit appetite for crypto tie-ins with incumbent banks is relatively low, we also found that there’s a pretty huge group who might value and use these features. Educating consumers in the processes, benefits and risks of crypto is crucial, because the growth potential is massive… so, are you listening, banks… and what are you going to do about this?!

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When the finance industry is full of old-school incumbents, the plucky fintechs snapping at their heels mean they really need to stay on the consumer pulse. 

If you’re a marketing or insights professional in the finance industry, this guide is for you. It’s the little push to get talking to your target audience again.

What we’ll dive into in this guide is first of all the importance of market research in financial services nowadays—because let’s face it, a lot has changed over the past few years, and the market is still adapting. 

Then we’ll cover how to conduct that market research effectively. We’ll give you some pointers and resources to use, and our market research top tips. 

Ready to get to know the financial services industry all over again? Let’s get started.

The importance of market research for the financial services industry

The financial industry has changed more than people often realise. Much of the recent changes started with a growing demand for simpler services. 

The industry’s answer to that was more digital services, but anyone who’s had a bank account for the past two decades knows that that was a struggle to get right for many banks. 

Why does this matter for market research? Because market research will dive into—at the very least—the following things: the evolving needs of your customers, and the technology that is available to meet it. 

Let’s specify the reasons why you should be conducting market research. 

The rise of fintech

Nowadays, even your grandparents know how to send money from their iPad. People have adopted digital forms of managing their finances in the blink of an eye, and fintech startups are popping up like wild mushrooms to keep up with the demand. 

In the wake of the Financial Crisis, trust in traditional banking, lending companies and investment services hit the floor, and consumers started to look elsewhere in the finance industry for providers that were right for them. As a result, many of those older financial service companies have added a fintech branch to their household names. 

Much like Diana Ross, the entire market is upside-down. Add to that an era-defining global pandemic, and you can see the clear shift in the financial services industry:

• 23% of consumers in 28 countries today already have a digital-only bank account
• Digital banking adoption is expected to grow to around 70% in the future
• There’s a potential market size of 1.4 billion customers

Our own research finds 45% of UK consumers are considering opening a new digital bank account in the next six months. 

This all means there’s huge competition in the financial services industry, and financial services providers really need to find their competitive advantage and understand market trends to win the battle for the customer. 

There’s a lot of money to be made 

The financial services industry is one that has been extremely digitally disrupted in recent years. AI and other tech has made their processes, and those of their customers, a lot easier and more impactful. 

Investors are latching on to this growing industry. The fintech market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 20% and reach around $305 billion by 2025. 

Unsurprisingly, incumbents are now actively investing, acquiring, and collaborating. With market research, you can present them with a clear proposal and pitch to get the big bucks on your side. 

But entering the market is extremely difficult

We’ve asked around (aka we ran some robust market research through the Attest platform), and it turns out that even though people are looking for digital solutions, they won’t just jump to anyone. Consumers are unlikely to simply start using an entirely unknown financial brand

When we asked them how likely they are to use a financial brand they haven’t heard of before, across all demographics the results were:

• Very likely – 12%
• Quite likely 26%
• Not very likely – 39%
• Not at all likely – 22%

That’s 61% of people saying they’re unlikely to use a financial brand that’s new to them. So if you’re a startup looking to enter the market of financial services, better do your market research and perfect your product, messaging and delivery.

Curious to find out whether it makes a difference if a new player pairs up with a household name? Read our entire research, and add it to your own later! 

The users of financial services aren’t who they once were

With the cashless society we’re in, even the younger generations now need access to digital financial services. 

No more pocket money, but more and more Apple watches that pay for their coffee. And an app to go with that too, please, so they know how many of those drinks they can have this week. 

Generation Z 

Tech-savvy millennials and older generations are no longer the only ones occupying the market of financial services. Gen Z is making its entrance, and they shouldn’t be overlooked. 

Chances are, they won’t walk into the bank on the corner and open up an account. They have different needs and buying processes, and that’s precisely what market research will reveal to you, so you can adapt accordingly. 

The customer base is finally becoming more diversified

The shift in the target audience doesn’t only have something to do with age and generation, however. Research from N26 has shown that there’s a noticeable shift in user demographics when it comes to digital banking. 

While the majority of digital-only adopters are still higher-income earners, male, and aged 25 to 44 years, the study shows that the middle class is starting to cover more ground—in Spain, for example, where 55% of digital-only customers have medium incomes.

And it’s not just income either—the gap between genders is also closing. Take Brazil for example, which is the first country with more female digital banking customers than male (52% female vs. 48% male customers).

Women becoming more and more financially independent and choosing financial services, is crucial to take into account when you’re doing market research.

Gig Economy Workers

You might want to focus your market research on a very specific, often overlooked target group: gig economy workers. 

Once a high-risk demographic, they are now becoming more and more accepted by financial institutions, but still the right services often are lacking. 

It’s expected that half of the US population will be part of the gig economy by 2028, so fire up your market research now and find ways to monetize this opportunity.

Financial products and services are often perceived as complicated.

Even if they aren’t. That’s because they are presented as if they are difficult and dangerous, often by people who haven’t done market research since the 90s.

Financial institutions often lack the language to make their services look attractive, and that’s because they lack the knowledge of their target audience. 

If you start conducting market research, you will find out what financial challenges you’re actually helping someone tackle, and how to communicate that clearly and in an attractive way. 

How GoCardless harnessed consumer insights to launch truly impactful products

Learning about consumers’ payment challenges has enabled GoCardless to increase the effectiveness of sales and marketing conversations

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How to do financial services market research

Time to get down to business: how do you conduct market research for financial service companies in a way that will leave you with real valuable information.  

We’ll cover both primary and secondary research and point you in the right direction when it comes to tools and other handy tips.

Primary financial market research

For customer-focused market research, it’s crucial that you go straight to the source: talk to your target audience. 

With primary financial market research, we mean anything from interviews to observations. Here are some ideas.

Online surveys

It can take your respondents only a minute to respond, and you immediately get to process all the information: online surveys are our top pick when it comes to market research in the financial service industry. 

No need to worry about finding the right people to survey: Attest has such a big pool of respondents—125m in 58 countries—that you’re sure to pick the right people, for super relevant data.

We’ll even help you get started with our market research template. Tailor it to fit your specific research questions and start collecting results in minutes! 

Learn how to tap into consumer insights for financial services

Understand what compels customers to open accounts, spend in new ways and invest intelligently

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Observations

No need to don a disguise and sit in a bank’s waiting area for this one (unless you really want to): you can easily do this online. Simply monitor how people are moving on your website. What pages are they looking at before purchasing? 

What place on your website is the one where most people abort the mission? This kind of first-hand information can give you great insights into the online shopping behaviour of your target audience, and you’re very likely to find out how to improve either your website or your content. 

Focus groups

Watching a discussion unfold about a certain topic often brings businesses great insights. You can use focus groups to get specific questions answered, or at the start of your research to find out what topic needs most research, based on what your target audience is talking about. 

What misconceptions do they have about your service? Who are they considering and why? Let the discussion begin!

Interviews

Really want to get to the core of your customers’ challenges? Sit them down for a one-to-one interview. 

This is often a great tool to use when following up after a survey or conversation round, to put your newly learned insights into perspective.

Put a lot of extra thought into finding the right people

A man, aged 50-60, can be both Jay-Z and Matthew Perry, and they are pretty different, so make your target audience a lot more specific than that. 

If you’re doing marketing research, you want to weed out all the people that don’t fit your actual buyer persona, so also think about who doesn’t fit the bill within the larger context of your target audience, and keep this into account when analysing the results of your primary market analysis. 

Quantitative market research

Quantitative market research focuses on things you can measure. For financial services providers, numbers are everything—so don’t miss out on this part of your research.

Quantify how big your target group really is, what they are willing to spend and the way these numbers have developed over time.

Qualitative market research

With the qualitative part of your research, you put the numbers in perspective. Sure, it’s great to know 5,000 people are willing to spend 5€ in theory, but what messaging and words do they need to read first to be convinced to do so?

What channels can you find them on? What types of services are they interested in: advice, or financial planning? Do they want to talk to their financial advisors on the phone, or face-to-face? 

What type of customer support are they looking for from a financial services provider, and what other extras on top of your service will make them loyal? This is what will help you put your market insights to use. 

Secondary financial market research

If you’re hunting for some great sources on the financial market, keep an eye on our insights on the fintech market: we have some articles readily available to you with our own research. 

Here are some articles you’d might like:

• Green finance: consumers not yet sold on sustainability
• How to master global expansion like Klarna
• How to get started in consumer research for FinTech startups
• Do financial partnerships drive consumer trust?
• Why do UK consumers love neobanks?
• How close is the UK to becoming a cashless society?
• The payment tech most-wanted by British consumers
• British consumers are ready to embrace a cashless future
• How US consumers will be won over by cryptocurrencies

You can also use recent and relevant industry reports, and up-to-date statistics sites. Always make sure that your sources are relevant and recent, and check who wrote it—you don’t want someone who’s biased or has something to gain from it leading your research. 

Double-check your sources and don’t hesitate to reach out to industry experts directly to get their opinion!

How to make financial services market research data actionable?

Get the right people around the table, and turn nice-to-know information into actionable insights. 

At the end of the day, you want your market research efforts to pay off. Not just with a nice report on the desk of your CEO, but with a strategic, actionable plan that has been set in motion and is being monitored closely.  

You conduct market research to learn what you can do better, and how—and then you go do it!

Before you even get started with your research, it’s crucial that you have a clear goal in mind: this research will not just answer, but also put things in action. 

Be willing to have it influence ideas you might have had in your head for a while—the real world will be doing the talking from now on.

We also recommend getting decision-makers involved in the research process. Not just knowing it’s being conducted, but give them a seat at the table when you’re defining the goals and the roads to take. 

This will ensure that when the results start coming in, they are up to speed and now what actions will have to be taken. 

Getting started with market research for financial services

Get finance industry insights and data with Attest—fast

If you’re looking for a reliable way to reach a lot of people at the same time, who fit your target group specifics to a T—use Attest. 

Whether you’re an established bank looking to track your brand health or a fintech start up still creating a consumer profile, we’ve got you covered: you get access to 125 million people across 58 countries and can use our filters and quotas to make it as niche as you need.

Market research for financial institutions FAQs

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From credit cards to bank accounts, there are ever-increasing ways to spend, save and invest while helping the environment… it’s just that consumers need much more education about them. 

We surveyed 500 UK consumers about the financial products they use and we found low overall awareness about the sustainability of their choices. Most tellingly, only 6% of people thought changing where they invest their money would have the biggest impact on reducing their carbon footprint. Despite the emergence of new funds that divert investment away from fossil fuels, this option was ranked as least impactful, just below becoming vegan (10%). 

Using a more sustainable payment type came in third, with 11% of the vote, while flying less scored 23%. Refusing single-use plastic is the action that most people believe will have the biggest impact on their carbon footprint (28%).

Consumers think avoiding single-use plastic will have a greater impact on their carbon footprint than sustainable investing.

This begs the question: how many consumers are actually aware of where their funds are going across their savings and investment products, and how important is it to them? More than half of respondents (55%) claim to know where their money is going – but only 37% say that it matters to them. 

Meanwhile, of the 44% who are not aware, 26% say they care, highlighting an opportunity for education. This opportunity is even bigger when it comes to pensions; 31% of Brits are interested in more information regarding where their funds are being invested. 

Willingness to change is low

Because people underestimate the impact of making more sustainable financial decisions, there is relatively low interest in doing so. Only 16% of respondents say they would be willing to change where their money is invested to reduce their carbon footprint, while just less than a quarter would switch to a more sustainable payment type.

Right now, Brits say the sustainability credentials of a savings or investment product is the least important factor when shopping around. Out of seven factors, respondents ranked ‘the organisation has committed to a net zero in their carbon footprint’ in last place. Just above this was, ‘I know my funds are supporting good and sustainable businesses.’ 

Deemed far more important was the returns on offer (in first place), followed by the ease and convenience of the product. Offering rewards and providing flexibility were also given priority when assessing a financial product. This means providers likely need to do more to communicate the benefits of making sustainable financial choices. 

Brits expect bank accounts to be sustainable

While more needs to be done to trigger conscious consumerism in the finance sector, Brits hold some types of providers more accountable for sustainability than others. When we asked respondents if there were any products they would actively cancel if they found out the providing organisation had no sustainable measures, the results showed interesting variety. 

Most likely to be cancelled are savings accounts (30%), yet other investment products were not held to such high standards (21%). Pensions were even less likely to be cancelled (19%). Meanwhile, bank accounts were the second most-likely to be cancelled (25%) suggesting that account products are under more scrutiny. 

Bank accounts are the most likely type of product to be cancelled for poor sustainability.

A quarter of respondents (25%) said they would cancel a cryptocurrency provider for poor sustainability, which could be bad news for Bitcoin, recently in the spotlight for its shocking environmental impact. It’s worth noting that efforts are being made to minimise the carbon footprint of the cryptocurrency, including SolarCoin, which aims to incentivise the production of solar energy, and BitGreen, an energy-efficient alternative that requires fewer calculations. 

Least likely to be cancelled due to disappointing environmental credentials are mortgages (12%) and personal loans (16%). The conclusion we can draw from this is that consumers are a little less bothered about morals when it comes to borrowing money. 

Want to find out more about sustainability trends?

Download our Sustainability trends report for the latest consumer insights on this hot topic.

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Payments leaders GoCardless have had stratospheric growth in the last couple of years, and are well on their way to becoming one of the great fintech unicorns. 

Siamac Rezaiezadeh, Director of Product Marketing at GoCardless, says a big part of GoCardless’s success lies in understanding customer pain points – something that the company has achieved through carrying out market research with Attest.

How research has driven GoCardless’s meteoric rise to the top 

Since GoCardless process payments at a global scale, it’s especially important for them to unpack behavioural and attitudinal differences across regions. By way of example, running research across five international markets helped them develop a proprietary framework called the 8 Dimensions of Payments. It was the first time they’d been able to establish pain points across the payments process spectrum; from the cost businesses incur for payments, to international coverage and more. 

“We didn’t have a way to succinctly say ‘as a customer in this industry, in this country, we predict you’re feeling this particular pain that can be quantified as X’. We wanted to get a really good set of market benchmarks for the challenges our customers are facing,” says Rezaiezadeh. 

We wanted a really good set of benchmarks for the challenges our customers are facing.

Informing sales conversations

Discovering the real-life challenges their customers face has been a gamechanger for GoCardless, upping the effectiveness of both sales and marketing conversations. Because the sales team are now armed with reliable insights they’re better able to explain the benefits of GoCardless’ products to potential customers. 

Rezaiezadeh says: “We wanted to revisit our existing framework for how well we can articulate our value proposition. With the data, we notably improved the maturity of our articulation, which we were then able to pass to our sales team. Before using Attest, that framework was used in around 5-10% of sales conversations; after using Attest it’s used in 25-30% of sales conversations and being able to quantify pain points has been a big driver of this.”

With the data, we notably improved the maturity of our value proposition articulation.

Driving new products and features

Insight gained through Attest research has also noticeably impacted the product and feature launch process. Consumer data has now become an embedded part of the way GoCardless continues to offer customers industry-leading products and features. 

Rezaiezadeh says: “One-hundred percent of our product and feature launches are backed with data. This enables us to launch products in a much more sophisticated way, with full confidence that what we’re offering customers is useful and valuable.” 

GoCardless’s new real-time payments product, Instant Bank Pay, powered by open banking technologies, is just the latest revolutionary offering from the London-based fintech.

100% of our product and feature launches are backed with data.

A successful partnership

Rezaiezadeh says GoCardless’ partnership with Attest has transformed the way the company makes business decisions – because consumer data is now so accessible to them, they no longer have to rely on guesswork.

“Attest’s simple platform has enabled the GoCardless team to find out a really wide range of crucial information about our market quickly and reliably,” he says. “The platform gives us the confidence to run market research that we know will reveal or compound actionable knowledge about our market.”

Attest gives us the confidence to run market research that we know will reveal actionable knowledge.

Rezaiezadeh adds that working with Attest’s customer success team, known as ACE, has empowered GoCardless to carry out their own multi-market research rather than having to use an agency.

“The Attest team has been extremely helpful in assisting us bring together surveys from many different geographies and merge them into a really useful, cohesive set.” 

With the impacts proven, GoCardless plan to continue using consumer insight via the Attest platform to inform their marketing, product and sales strategies; all in aid of achieving their goal to make payment processes smoother and simpler for businesses around the world. 

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