Amid pandemics, SRM survey reveals forward push in digital and payment activity in the US

Strategic Resource Management (SRM), an independent advisory firm serving financial institutions, has revealed forward push in digital and payment activity.

The advisory has conducted its second diverse sampling among banks and credit unions to evaluate their ongoing response to the effects of COVID-19 in the US, including observed trends across various consumer banking behaviours.

Key findings indicate:

•  Digital growth is well above the pre-pandemic norm. 62.16% of responding financial institutions noted an increase in digital users of between 10 and 25%; the most common response was an uptick of 10-15%. Another 10.81% of respondents stated this growth exceeded 25%;
•  When asked about changes in how customers or members pay for purchases, nearly half of the institutions reported decreases in credit card activity. At the same time, a correlating 48.65% saw increases across debit usage. This result aligns with the Federal Reserve report showing US credit card balances falling below USD 1 trillion;
• 64.86% of responding financial institutions stated increases in Card Not Present transactions, and 75.68% reported the same for mobile payments. No respondents saw declines in either of these areas. Furthermore, 48.65% of respondents also noted a decrease in cash withdrawals;
• More than one-quarter of respondents noted an increase in transaction values across all payment types, while 21.62% noted a decrease in transaction values;
•  Understanding these dynamics will be critical over the next 12 months when negotiating high-stakes agreements with payments vendors.
• Asked to rank their forward focus in five areas, survey participants saw ‘Expand/Improve Digital Channels’ as their most critical initiative going forward, with nearly two-thirds of respondents rating it their top priority, confirming the results of the earlier survey's findings in this area.