Canada dragging its feet in fintech acceptance - study

Over three-fifths of Canadian consumers still prefer live mortgage advice in bank branches

Canada dragging its feet in fintech acceptance - study
Multiple observers have predicted the positive effect of financial services firms on the demand for Canadian office space over the next few years, but a recent study noted that globally, Canada is still lagging behind in terms of accepting financial services automation.
 
The 2017 consumer survey by Accenture Financial Services found that approximately 59 per cent of Canadians prefer to use fully digital support for their banking transactions, citing consumers’ need to have “greater control over [the] service experience,”
 
“Improved speed and convenience is the main reason consumers will turn to automated servicing,” according to the study, as quoted by CMT.
 
However, only 14 per cent of Canadian millennials said that they would trust investment, insurance, banking, or purchasing advice provided by an online platform such as Amazon or Google—way below the 40 per cent global average.
 
The same study revealed that 61 per cent of Canadian consumers have no plans of fully moving over to robo-advice, as they will still be relying on live mortgage advice in bank branches for their transactions. 23 per cent have been characterized as bargain hunters, and as such, they are among the segments most heavily dependent on human advisors.
 
The study described less than a quarter of Canadian consumers as “a highly digitally active group” who are most open to and prepared for utilizing next-generation models of financial services delivery. This is the cohort to watch out for, Accenture added, as these “Nomads” do not see themselves tied to traditional providers such as banks.


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