Research conducted by the American Bankers Association confirms the view that generational differences have a strong influence on consumer channel preferences for financial services delivery.
Although branch banking still ranks first overall among consumer's usage, younger customers have a different story to tell, according to the survey of 1000 adults conducted by Ipsos-Reid on behalf of the ABA.
When consumers were asked what banking method they use most often, branches topped the poll with 32% of the vote, followed by online and ATM channels, each with 26%, and telephone and postal methods bringing up the rear at five per cent apiece.
However, generational differences had a strong influence on how respondents answered. For example, banking at a local branch was the clear favorite of nearly half of those over the age of 55, but only 175 of those under 34 said they use branches most often. In fact, younger customers ranked branches behind online banking (35%) and ATMs (33%). Older customers said the opposite with 47% preferring to bank by branch, followed by ATMs (20%) and online (13%).