And 40 per cent of millennials (aged 25-44) believe that the high street bank is dead right now or will be within five years. But the cry for innovation is loud and clear; 68 per cent of consumers demand access to the same level of digital services that challenger banks are providing.

The research, independently conducted with over 2,000 consumers, shows that high-street banks still have a legacy of trust that can buy them time vs the new challenger banks; 60 per cent of consumers researched trust high street banks vs only 30 per cent trusting the challengers. Yet these challengers are clearly leading the way on changing banking behaviors: 22 per cent of consumers would like to manage money entirely digitally, in apps or online, and nearly a third want to use digital payment methods for everything that they can (31%). But despite high levels of trust in established banking providers, fifty per cent would still consider switching.

With speculation that large technology brands may move into the banking and payments market, recently highlighted by Apple’s ‘Apple Card’ launching in the US this summer, and Facebook’s announcement to launch ‘GlobalCoin’ in 2020, consumers do not yet trust Silicon Valley brands to provide banking services; those not trusting the idea outnumbered those welcoming it by 48 to 33 per cent. Surprisingly only half (54%) of the Millennial generation felt some positivity towards it.

Flavia Alzetta, CEO of Contis, explained, “There is a legacy of trust for established high street banks, but our research shows that time is running out. Established banks need to quickly embrace the innovations pioneered by challenger banks who are fast changing the expectations of consumers. The winners will be the companies who listen to customers and deliver choice. High Street banks need to listen & innovate, or die, and time is of the essence.”

“Contis believes the way forward for traditional banks is increasingly in partnership with nimble FinTechs who are not constrained by legacy technology, systems, infrastructure or culture. Open banking has enabled new customer-centric businesses to develop new features and technology, powered by APIs for quick legacy-free integration.”

Contis has a proven track-record of providing established, financial services brands with the payments solution they need, using its robust, secure, highly configurable and fully API-enabled white-label platform as a ‘one-stop shop’ solution. Contis has the licenses and certification to operate across the EEA on SEPA and UK banking and payments ‘rails’.

The data behind this analysis comes from a survey of over 2,000 consumers produced independently for Contis, by Censuswide, a market research consultancy. The research was conducted between 3rd – 7th May 2019. The insights come ahead of Money20/20, the largest FinTech conference in Europe, where Contis is exhibiting.