Digital offerings and the brand are more important to customers than branches

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When choosing their bank, customers are primarily concerned with costs and security . As in the past, the aspects considered important are the level of account management fees (98 percent) and deposit protection (98 percent) as well as the large number of free ATMs (97 percent). For three quarters (75 percent), the country of origin of the bank is important, and for two thirds (68 percent), free access to cash abroad is important.

This is followed by digital offerings such as online banking, apps and online advice at 67 percent, practically on a par with personal advice at the counter hong kong gambling data (68 percent). Around two thirds (64 percent) also pay attention to the brand, which for the first time is more important than many bank branches that are easy to reach (53 percent). Just behind is the desire to be able to use mobile payment offerings such as Apple Pay or Google Pay (47 percent). At the bottom of the list are customer loyalty programs with rewards (34 percent). Rohleder: "Nobody should underestimate the speed at which digitization can change customer behavior. Mobile payment offerings, which have only been on the market for a few years, already play a role in choosing a bank that is just as important as the number of bank branches."

The declining importance of branches is also reflected in the fact that only 7 percent of citizens go to a bank branch at least once a week. A further 6 percent say they visit a branch several times a month. But 43 percent only go there once a month, and 41 percent even less than once a month. And among online banking users, 35 percent no longer go to a branch at all and only use the online services, while a further 53 percent do so primarily. Only 10 percent of online banking users still go to the branch mainly. More than one in three Germans (38 percent) say that they would not miss anything without a bank branch. Among 16- to 29-year-olds, a majority of 51 percent even agree with this statement. And almost half of all respondents (46 percent) believe that the costs of bank branches should only be borne by those who actually use them.