M’sians more comfortable opening bank accounts with smartphones
KUCHING: Malaysian consumers are found to be more comfortable opening bank accounts on their smartphones than consumers in the US and Canada.
According to global analytics software firm FICO in its Consumer Digital Banking Survey, 23 per cent of Malaysians prefer to open a bank account on their phone compared to 18 per cent in the US and 16 per cent in Canada.
“It is not surprising that Malaysian consumers are digital natives,” said Subhashish Bose, FICO’s lead for fraud, security and compliance in Asia Pacific.
“It is demographically a young country, with 80 per cent of the population under the age of 50. Plus, the Malaysian government is actively encouraging development and investment in the digital economy which makes up about a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
“These factors have promoted a digital-first consumer base.”
The study showed that digital account opening is rapidly becoming the norm in Malaysia with 78 per cent of consumers saying they would open some kind of financial account online.
Of those that would open a financial account online, 65 per cent would consider doing so for an everyday transaction account, 45 per cent for a credit card and 28 per cent for a personal loan.
Leading the digital push were 25 to 34-year-olds, with 76 per cent of them saying they would open a bank account online. This dropped to 49 per cent when it came to consumers 45 to 55 years-old, but interestingly climbed back up to 61 per cent for those over 55 years of age.
“Malaysian households are often multi-generational. So, this finding might be explained by younger generations helping their grandparents with their banking, especially if they are less mobile and can’t get to a branch.”
“As consumers’ reliance on online services grows in response to Covid-19, we expect further shifts in adoption and indeed an acceleration and acceptance in opening bank accounts digitally.
“It is important that banks closely examine any points of friction in their application process to ensure consumers are not abandoning a process or switching to a competitor.”
The survey found that a large per centage of Malaysians had an expectation that they should be able to complete all aspects of account opening online or on their phone.