A US neobank is offering a simple onramp to crypto that targets Hispanic users. Could it pave the way for using digital assets in cross-border payments?

This fifth annual benchmark stacks up 23 US financial institutions against one another, evaluating their mobile app capabilities based on consumer demand for 42 emerging features.

Spurred by shifts in customer expectations, incumbents will race to personalize services and enhance distribution strategies. Fintechs will focus their attention on tapping opportunities that first emerged in 2021.

This benchmark evaluates four US neobanks across seven categories and weights their scores according to the results from a survey of US mobile banking users. It highlights the most in-demand mobile banking features that an incumbent, fintech, or neobank can offer to attract, retain, or monetize users.

Though half of Gen Z hasn’t yet reached adulthood, it’s well on its way to becoming a financial juggernaut. Here’s an overview of this generation’s unique financial attitudes and behaviors.

The majority of US adults aren’t in the habit of switching their primary bank. As of August, 77% have not moved their primary account to a new bank in the past five years, and just 8% have done so over the past year.

While financial service's digital ad spending has historically outpaced the digital ad market, we expect a slowdown in 2021 and beyond as incumbents in both banking and insurance focus their budgets on technological innovations to compete with emerging fintech companies.

The growth of investment robo-advisors—algorithm-based account services—spiked last year across the US, the UK, and Canada as investors, especially those belonging to younger populations, took advantage of investment opportunities during the pandemic. For instance, independent robo-advisors Wealthfront and Betterment both reported double-digit increases in account openings during the pandemic.

When US neobanks will hit 40 million clients

Although the benefits of 5G for financial services firms are less flashy than in other industries, lower latency, faster speed, and improved reliability will play a big role in the financial services sector.

Top industries facing a data security trust fall

The pandemic is pushing consumers into digital banking channels, upping pressure on small and midsized banks to deliver value-added services and digital user experiences. They have to find ways of doing so on limited tech budgets to stay competitive.

Consumers’ growing willingness to get their financial services from non-FI providers is spurring consumer brands to embed financial elements in their products and services. But this new form of finance will mean dramatic changes for incumbent and startup FIs.

This year, 81.6% of internet users in the US will access their bank accounts digitally at least once per month, according to our latest estimates. That’s significantly higher than the 72% we previously projected, due in large part to the pandemic. We expect this behavior to continue, and by 2023, we forecast there will be 207.3 million US digital banking users.

Less than 13% of smartphone users in Germany will use proximity mobile payments this year—one of the lowest rates in Europe. User numbers will increase slowly, but privacy concerns and the popularity of cash and card payments will curtail adoption.

Growth in proximity mobile payment use in the UK remains slow but steady. Against a strong headwind of contactless card use, mobile payments have struggled to take hold, though young consumer use offers a glimmer of hope.

This year, there will be 82.5 million mobile phone P2P payment users in the US, according to eMarketer estimates.

Hossein Rahnama, founder and CEO of fintech AI firm Flybits, explains the benefits and challenges of virtual assistants for brands in Canada.