Marketing analyst firm Datamonitor is predicting further incursions by non-bank competitors into European financial services markets, with utilities, supermarkets and mobile operators offering the greatest threat.
The findings are based on research from 2001 highlighting the willingness of consumers across Europe to buy financial products from non-banks.
Thirty-nine per cent of French consumers state they are willing to purchase banking products from a utilities company and 42% insurance products - this equates to almost 23 million and 25 million consumers respectively.
Twenty per cent of consumers in France and Sweden say they would purchase banking products from telecoms companies compared to 19% in Spain, 13% in Italy, 12% in Germany and only four per cent in the UK.
Thirty-four per cent of Italian consumers and 33% of Spanish consumers say they are willing to purchase insurance products from a utilities company. Thirty-four per cent of Swedes would buy banking products from a supermarket.
Datamonitor suggests mobile operators present the most potent threat to traditional financial services institutions, with their already significant customer numbers, payments systems, IT infrastructure, billing relationships and strength of brand.
However, Alex Boorman, Datamonitor's financial services technology analyst, observes: "It needs to be stressed that the mobile operators have spent heavily on 3G licenses. It therefore remains to be seen whether their finances remain sufficient to fund entry into financial services and how dependent entry would be on the successs of 3G."