Are Banks Ready for Gen Z Customers?

Capital Markets CIO Outlook | Wednesday, July 04, 2018

Through ground-breaking digital revolution that is affecting industries worldwide, the modus operandi of industries aren’t the same anymore. Banking and the payment industry are no exception to this trend. While initially, paper-based transactions ruled the scene, the present generation referred as Gen Z is expecting banking to be a holistic and robust experience with constant connectivity through palm computing. By 2020, this demographic will become the main influencer and trendsetter across various industries including the payment realm.

Having witnessed an economic depression and being brought up in an environment of economic instability and insecurity, Gen Z population suffers from a great deal of economic anxiety due to the current financial climate. Hence, they demand a realistic and formalized payment strategy with minimal data breaches and risk factors. A study performed by Capital Performance Group reveals that 87 percent of banking institutions do not have formalized payment strategies and 41 percent have no plans of developing one. While banks have access to the data through which a realistic experience can be charted for the demanding nature of Gen Z, due to its complexity, third-party non-banking tech companies are required to work with banks to launch intuitive and innovative products which Gen Z members want.

With the present digital market poised to reach far beyond the reaches of individual transactions, Gen Z youngsters are deeply entrenched in and fascinated with the opportunities of the digital economy through cryptocurrency and blockchain environment. Now is the time for the banking sector to reinvent and nurture a new mode of payment that caters to the demands of the influential demographics-Gen Z.  

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