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Digital Only Banking Adoption 2022
21% of respondents in Singapore have a digital bank account.
As it stands, 21% of respondents in Singapore have a digital bank account, an increase of 3 percentage points from 2021 according to a recent global survey of 1,003 conducted by Finder in April 2022.
While 21% of respondents in Singapore say they have a digital bank account, an additional 9% plan to open one in the next year, bringing the percentage of people in Singapore with a digital bank account to 30%. That figure is expected to jump even higher to 35% by the end of 2027.
Men are more likely to have a digital-only bank account
Men are more likely to have a digital bank account than women, with 25% of men compared to 17% of women saying they have an account.
People aged 18-24 are most likely to bank online
Those aged 18-24 in Singapore are most likely to say they have a digital bank account, with 39% having an active service.
Which country has the most digital bankers?
Brazil leads the way for digital bankers in 2022, with 43% of those surveyed saying they have an account. Brazil is followed by India (26%), Ireland (22%), Singapore (21%), Hong Kong (20%), United Arab Emirates (19%), Mexico (17%), Spain (17%) and South Africa (15%).
At the other end of the spectrum, the United States has the smallest percentage of adults with a digital-only bank account (8%), followed by both the Philippines and Malaysia at 13%, and Portugal and Germany with 14%.
During the previous survey, Mexico was projected to see an increase in digital bankers of 20 percentage points from 2021 to 2026, which was the highest growth rate of all of the selected countries. And that growth is expected to continue in the years to come with the number of digital bankers in Mexico projected to increase between 2022 to 2027 by almost 24 percentage points (once again the highest growth rate). The United Arab Emirates is close behind with a projected increase of 22 percentage points, followed by The Philippines (21 points) and India (19 points).
Did digital banks lose customers as a result of COVID-19?
Interestingly, 5 countries saw a drop in the number of adults who said they had a digital-only bank account from last year's survey.
Malaysia had the largest drop of 7 percentage points. The Philippines saw the second-biggest drop of 6 percentage points, while Germany saw a 5-point drop. Meanwhile, Ireland saw a drop of 3 percentage points.
However, in the majority of countries we looked we see an uptick in the number of people who say they had a digital-only bank account. Brazil sees an 11 percentage point bump in digital bankers between 2021 and 2022, with Mexico not far behind at 6 percentage points.
However, all countries are expected to see an increase again by 2027. On average, 34% of people worldwide will have a digital bank account within the next 5 years, up from an average of just 19% in 2022.
Are men or women more likely to have a digital-only bank account?
In 13 of the 14 countries surveyed, men are more likely to have a digital-only bank account. Of these, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates (9 points), Mexico, Singapore and Spain (8 points) had the biggest gender gaps.
Meanwhile, in Portugal, women are actually just as likely to have an online-only bank account with 14% of both men and women saying they have an account.
Adoption highest with younger people
Across the globe, individuals that are most likely to have a digital bank account in Brazil are ages 25–34 (55%), Malaysia ages 18–24 (20%), Philippines ages 35–44 (16%), Ireland ages 25–34 (34%), Mexico ages 25–34 (22%), Hong Kong ages 35–44 (23%), Singapore ages 18–24 (39%), United Arab Emirates ages 18–24 (31%), Germany ages 35–44 (17%), Spain ages 18–24 (22%), South Africa ages 35–44 (18%), India ages 18–24 (33%) and Portugal ages 18–24 (22%).
Finder surveyed 24,425 adults across 14 countries and regions via Google surveys in March 2022. Due to the varying Google infrastructure in each territory, not all surveys were nationally representative. Where a nationally representative sample was unavailable, a natural fall/convenience sample was used. The list of the countries studied, sample sizes and survey types are presented below:
United States: A convenience sample of 2,501
Mexico: A convenience sample of 2,175
The Philippines: A convenience sample of 2,049
Singapore: A convenience sample of 1,003
Malaysia: A convenience sample of 1,501
India: A convenience sample of 2,899
South Africa: A convenience sample of 2,179
Ireland: A convenience sample of 1,201
Spain: A convenience sample of 1,690
Germany: A convenience sample of 2,003
Brazil: A convenience sample of 2,005
Hong Kong: A convenience sample of 1,001
United Arab Emirates: A convenience sample of 1,015
Portugal: A convenience sample of 1,203
As it stands, 18% of Singaporean adults have a digital bank account, which equates to an estimated 900,478 people. That figure is expected to hit 25% (1,230,569) by 2022 and 30% (1,510,495) by the year 2026 – an increase of 12 percentage points over the next 5 years.
Women slightly more likely to have a virtual bank account
Singaporean women are more likely to have a digital bank account than men, with 19% of women compared to 18% of men saying they have an account.
Around the globe, men are about 2 percentage points more likely to have a digital bank account than women, which means Singapore bucks the trend with women roughly 1 percentage point more likely to have a digital bank account than men.
People aged 35-44 are most likely to bank online
People aged 35-44 are more likely to have a digital bank account with 23% having an active service.
Which country has the most digital bankers?
Brazil has the most digital bankers (32%), followed by Indonesia and Ireland (25% each), Vietnam (23%), and Switzerland and Poland (22% each). On the other end of the spectrum, the United States has the smallest percentage of adults with a virtual bank account (6%), followed by Canada (9%), Finland, Denmark and Mexico (11% each).
Mexico is expected to have the strongest growth in the number of people with virtual bank accounts from 2021 to 2026 – an increase of 20 percentage points. Brazil, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines are all expected to see a growth of 18 percentage points.
Did digital banks lose customers as a result of COVID-19?
Of the 30 countries Finder looked at for this study, Finder had previously run the same survey in 12 of those nations and regions in 2020. Interestingly, 6 out of those 12 countries saw a drop in the number of adults who said they had a virtual bank account.
Germany had the largest drop of 9 percentage points. The Netherlands saw the second-biggest drop of 7 percentage points, while Spain and Mexico closely followed at 6 and 4 percentage points, respectively. Meanwhile, countries like Singapore and Malaysia saw smaller drops of 2 percentage points and less than 1 percentage point, respectively. Bucking the trend, Ireland actually had an extra 10 percentage points of adults with a digital bank account in 2021 compared to 2020, and Brazil had an extra 5 percentage points.
However, all countries are expected to see an increase again by 2026. On average, 28% of people worldwide will have a digital bank account within the next 5 years, up from an average of just 17% in 2021.
Are men or women more likely to have a virtual bank account?
In 19 of the 30 countries surveyed, men are more likely to have a virtual bank account. Of these, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Finland and Japan had the biggest gender gaps of 8 percentage points each.
Meanwhile, in 9 countries, women are actually more likely to have an online-only bank account. Australia has a female-led gap of 3 percentage points, and Ireland and Canada both have a gap of 2 percentage points.
Methodology
Finder surveyed 41,654 people across 30 countries and regions via Google surveys in March – April 2021. Due to the varying Google infrastructure in each territory, not all surveys were nationally representative. Where a nationally representative sample was unavailable, a natural fall/convenience sample was used. The list of the countries studied, sample sizes and survey types are presented below:
The Philippines: A convenience sample of 2,023
Singapore: A convenience sample of 1,003
Malaysia: A convenience sample of 1,503
Hong Kong: A convenience sample of 1,000
Ireland: A convenience sample of 1,215
Canada: Representative sample of 1,200
United States: Representative sample of 2,001
Australia: Representative sample of 954
New Zealand: A convenience sample of 1,001
United Kingdom: Representative sample of 2,001
United Arab Emirates: A convenience sample of 1,002
Japan: Representative sample of 2,001
Indonesia: A convenience sample of 2,004
Vietnam: A convenience sample of 2,001
France: Representative sample of 1,505
Italy: A convenience sample of 1,510
The Netherlands: A convenience sample of 1,201
Mexico: Representative sample of 2,001
Spain: Representative sample of 1,515
Brazil: Representative sample of 2,048
Germany: Representative sample of 2,002
Austria: A convenience sample of 1,215
Switzerland: A convenience sample of 874
Sweden: A convenience sample of 839
Portugal: A convenience sample of 1,202
Poland: A convenience sample of 817
Norway: A convenience sample of 1,201
Hungary: A convenience sample of 1,201
Finland: A convenience sample of 1,009
Denmark: A convenience sample of 605
Singapore is ahead of the curve when it comes to digital banking, according to a survey of 1,204 adults. The research reveals that one in five adults (20%) currently have an account with a branchless bank, equating to an estimated 980,000 people.
In addition to those Singaporeans who are currently with an online-only bank, 6% plan on opening an account in the next year and a further 4% intend on having an account in the next five years. All this means that almost a third of the adult population in Singapore will have a digital bank account by 2025.
While these numbers are encouraging for the growth of digital banking in the region, when asked whether they had a digital bank account, over two-fifths of the adult population (43%) said that they didn’t know what a digital-only bank was.
Singaporean women are more likely to have a digital bank account
It looks like Singaporean women are more curious about digital banking than men. Women are more likely to currently have a digital bank account, with approximately 24% of women holding an account versus 20% of men.
Women in Singapore are also more likely to be aware of the concept of digital-only banking than their male counterparts, with 38% of women saying they didn’t know what a digital bank was, versus almost half (45%) of the male population.
However, it looks like Singaporean men will close the digital banking gap in the coming years. 7% of men say they will open a branchless account in the next year versus 6% of women. The same goes for those planning to open a bank account in the next five years, with 4% men saying they’re going to open an account, compared to 3% of women. That means that by 2025, 34% of women are expected to have an online-only bank, compared to 30% of men.
Young adults are more likely to have a digital bank account
Singaporeans between the age of 18 and 24 are more likely to have a digital bank account, as a quarter (25%) are currently with a digital bank. Hot on their heels are those between the ages of 35 and 44. 24% of that cohort are currently digitally banked.
In the coming five years, it looks as if these two age groups will flip flop in regards to adoption of digital-only banking, with 11% of those aged 35-44 planning on opening an account in the next year and a further 4% planning on opening an account in the next five years. This means that roughly 40% of those in this age bracket will have an account in the next five years, compared to just 32% of those aged 18-24.
How does Singapore compare with the rest of the world?
Brazil and Germany have the biggest percentage of online-only bankers out of the 13 countries included in the study, with 28% of each adult population reporting that they bank digitally. India, Malaysia, Spain, Singapore and the Netherlands also have a large proportion of the population banking online, with around one in five adults currently holding neobank accounts.
Those in Italy are least likely to have an online-only bank account at just 12%, followed by France at 13%. Digital banking adoption is currently sitting at 15% in the Philippines, Mexico and Ireland and at 16% in Hong Kong.
Where is digital banking growing the fastest?
Over the next five years, India is set to experience the biggest boom in digital banking adoption, with a 21 percentage point increase in the number of adults with online-only bank accounts. This means that by 2025, we estimate that just under 400 million Indian adults will hold neobank accounts. Brazil, Malaysia and the Philippines are also expected to see significant growth, with an increase of 16 percentage points in each country, followed by Mexico and the Netherlands (15 percentage points each) and Germany and Hong Kong (12 percentage points each).
Spain, Italy and Singapore are expected to have a more modest, but still significant, increase of 10 percentage points, while the data suggests that Ireland and France will have the smallest increases, at 7 and 5 percentage points respectively.
Google Survey details are as follows:
Mexico: 2,007 adults, representative, collected 10-12 March 2020.
Brazil: 2,045 adults, representative, collected 10-12 March 2020.
Germany: 1,509 adults, representative, collected 13-15 March 2020.
France: 1,526 adults, representative, collected 12-14 March 2020.
Spain: 1,207 adults, representative, collected 11-13 March 2020.
Hong Kong: 1,203 adults, convenience sampling, collected 9-26 March 2020.
Malaysia: 1,205 adults, convenience sampling, collected 9-15 March 2020.
Singapore: 1,204 adults, convenience sampling, collected 9-27 March 2020.
India: 2,512 adults, convenience sampling, collected 9-17 March 2020.
The Netherlands: 1,205 adults, convenience sampling, collected 13 March – 2 April 2020.
Italy: 1,523 adults, convenience sampling, collected 11-13 March 2020.
The Philippines: 2,014 adults, convenience sampling, collected 10-12 March 2020.
Ireland: 1,218 adults, convenience sampling, collected 10-12 March 2020.
Richard Laycock is Finder’s insights editor after spending the last five years writing and editing articles about insurance. His musings can be found across the web including on NASDAQ, MoneyMag, Yahoo Finance and Travel Weekly. Richard studied Media at Macquarie University and The Missouri School of Journalism and has a Tier 1 Certification in General Advice for Life Insurance.
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