63% of consumers in Europe abandon financial applications, Signicat report finds

Financial institutions must comply with KYC and Anti Money Laundering (AML) rules which requires the consumer shares personal information. However, identity checking processes are not designed for the digital world, as the report’s findings reveal:

• Over a quarter (26%) of consumers argue that the onboarding process is ‘difficult’.
• Over a quarter feel the onboarding process is longer than they expected (28%).
• Consumers have been spoiled by the ease of mobile-first financial service providers. Over two thirds (69%) consider mobile-first providers to be better than more traditional providers.
• Consumers are finally refusing to put up with substandard options, as more consumers are now using a mobile-first financial service, up from 30% in 2019 to 47% in 2020. Moreover, only 4% are unhappy with their new mobile-first provider. 69% are happier than before.

Furthermore, the survey findings indicate a growing expectation gap between demographics. Older groups—including millennials—are more inclined to put up with inadequate onboarding experiences. Whereas Gen Z show little tolerance for anything other than fast digital onboarding:

• Over a third of these younger consumers feel the onboarding process is longer than they expected (36%).
• Just under a quarter of Gen Z customers are abandoning applications due to lengthy processes (24%).
• They are also more likely to be deterred by too much detail (22%), and most likely to simply change their minds (24%).

The fourth edition of Signicat’s annual study The Battle to Onboard 2020: The impact of COVID-19 and beyond is based on a survey of 4,000 adults across Belgium, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the UK regarding their onboarding experience as well as their attitude towards financial service providers.