15 Post-Pandemic Digital Banking Statistics

Even before COVID-19 came into our lives, we already knew that banknotes are some of the dirtiest objects we touch in our everyday lives.

With the added risk of a new disease, it’s no wonder many people chose to go digital—and contactless.

How many exactly?

This collection of digital banking statistics will let you know.

Interesting Banking Facts (Editor’s Choice)

• As of 2022, 65.3% of the US population use digital banking.
• Over 3.6 billion people will use digital banking by 2024.
• There were 1,506 data breaches related to digital banking in 2019.
• 27% of people in the US changed banks during the pandemic.
• Most people (85%) think digital banking saves time—in fact, 32% of consumers avoid going to branches altogether.
• Still, 33% prefer traditional banking.
• 93% of Britons use some form of digital banking, and so do most Northern Europeans.
• 94.6% of US households have at least one member with a bank account.
• All in all, 34% of consumers use mobile banking, whereas 22.8% of them do banking online.

Online Banking vs Traditional Banking

You may not necessarily associate banks with technology much.

In fact, the words “money” and “technology” in the same sentence probably make you think of cryptocurrencies.

But the truth is that the financial industry has always been at the forefront of technological advancement. Just think about how long ATMs have been around!

(In case you didn’t know, they were invented back in the 60s.)

So, online banking was naturally the next step for the industry—and we bet that it came way sooner than you think it did.

1. 94.6% of American households are “banked.”

(Source: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)

One of the more intriguing banking facts we discovered was that a decent chunk of American households are “unbanked.” That is, 5.4% of the approximately 130 million households in the country—for the record, that’s 7.02 million households—don’t have even a single member who has a checking or a savings account at a bank.

There are two main reasons why people stay unbanked. Primarily, it’s due to socioeconomic circumstances—that is, they don’t meet minimum balance requirements.

The second reason is that some people simply don’t trust banks.

2. In the United States, half of the population has just one bank account.

(Source: GO Banking Rates)

The average number of bank accounts per person in the US is two.

Specifically, half of the population is loyal to a single bank, 28% have accounts at two banks, and 11% have created an account at three different banking institutions.

Here’s where it gets interesting: Although only 4% of the US population have four accounts, 7% claim they have five or more. Apparently, people who need a bunch of bank accounts tend to go all in.

But let’s circle back to the digital side of things: When did online banking start?

3. The first online banking platform came out in 1995.

(Source: Wells Fargo)

How did it start?

It’s an impressive story. Wells Fargo launched a website in 1994 that featured little more than basic information about the company. The site also had a feedback button—and people used it.

Visitors said they’d like to be able to check their balance online. So, a year later, Wells Fargo delivered.

Another four years later, one million customers were using its online banking platform. Four years more, and that number had grown to five million.

In 2007, Wells Fargo launched a mobile app that, according to digital banking stats, climbed the popularity ladder quicker than its website—it garnered a million users in just two years.

4. 85% of customers think digital banking saves time.

(Source: Forbes)

Even when there’s a physical branch nearby, many people (80% of banking customers) prefer using digital banking services.

Why?

Over 85% believe that it’s easier to manage their finances digitally and that going to the physical branch is more time-consuming.

Fun fact: 32% of Americans avoid going to the bank whenever possible.

5. 35% of consumers wouldn’t use a digital-only bank.

(Source: PwC)

Some good news for all the traditionalists out there: Brick-and-mortar banks aren’t dead—and they probably won’t be going away anytime soon. Despite the rise of online banking in the US, 35% of consumers say they wouldn’t use a bank that has no physical presence nearby. 

We guess they appreciate the sense of security that stems from knowing their bank of choice can afford the physical location.

Furthermore, 33% of consumers prefer to visit their local branch for certain activities rather than do them online, so it makes sense they’d refuse a digital-only option.

6. Bank of America serves 67 million customers.

(Source: Bank of America) 

The number of customers using Bank of America has reached 67 million as of April 2022. And about 80% of them (or about 54 million people) also make use of the bank’s digital platform.

That said, despite the impressive adoption rate of its online banking service, BoA hasn’t abandoned its physical locations. Currently, it boasts over 4,100 branches and 16,000 ATMs.

Fun fact: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup are the three banks that pollute the most in the world. Combined, they emitted 2,057.15 metric tonnes of CO2 in 2020.

Online Banking Fraud Statistics

Digital banking can be very convenient—but it also conceals danger.

Sure, we can now do our banking much more efficiently, but miscreants have gotten more resourceful, too. From phishing to straight-on cyber attacks, financial organizations (and their customers) have much to worry about.

7. Just in 2019, over 1,500 data breaches affected financial institutions.

(Source: Forbes)

The global online banking industry has prospered over the last few years, but it’s had its fair share of problems to deal with, too.

In 2019, for instance, there were 1,506 security breaches that led to customer data being leaked. While such cyberattacks can affect any business operating online, financial institutions are particularly susceptible due to the nature of their work.

Consequently, 71% of industry leaders said their banks would be investing more in developing security solutions.

Interesting fact: Statistics suggest that about 80% of data breaches correlate to poor password security. If you want to be safe online but don’t want to go through the hassle of coming up with a new secure-yet-memorable password every time you sign up for a site, we’d recommend using a program to handle that for you.

8. Banks are looking into blockchain technology.

(Source: Accenture)

Statistics on banking suggest that financial institutions could save up to $12 billion a year just by adopting blockchain technology.

Well, when we put it like that it seems like doing such a thing is easy. The truth is that, for banks, adopting blockchain means changing their entire infrastructure.

Yet, as inconvenient as that may be, the prospect of increased cybersecurity is enough for banks to think about it. The rising popularity of crypto is perhaps the additional boost banks needed to consider blockchain seriously. And, let’s be honest, the $8-$12 billion in savings might just seal the deal.

So, when you think about it, it’s not that surprising that banks hold a 30% share of the blockchain market.

Online Banking vs Mobile Banking

First things first—no, it’s not the same.

Online banking includes all activities related to banking that we perform online, whether it is on mobile apps or websites.

Mobile banking, on the other hand, refers specifically to doing financial transactions on a mobile device (usually a smartphone).

9. Over a third of consumers use mobile banking.

(Source: Forbes)

Online banking was popular in 2015. Mobile banking, not so much.

Back then, 37% used the former as their main way of doing banking, whereas only 10% preferred the latter.

Now, things look vastly different. As of 2019, over a third of consumers (34%) relied on their mobile devices to review balances, deposit checks, and transfer funds. Yet, over a fifth of consumers (22.8%) insist on doing these things on a desktop.

What about the remaining 43% or so?

Well, 21% of people still do all those things in person with the help of a bank teller, 19% use ATMS, and a surprising 2.4% engage in telephone banking.

10. 95% of young Americans use their bank’s app.

(Source: Forbes)

These are likely going to be the least surprising digital banking stats in the whole article, but here we go. There is an apparent connection between one’s age and the likelihood of using a bank’s app.

In the US, 95% of people between the ages of 18 to 34 do. The same is true for 81% of those in the 35-54 age group. But only 59% of those aged 55+ engage in online banking.

11. 35% of customers say the most important mobile banking feature is check depositing.

(Source: Forbes)

What banking activity do most consumers use mobile banking for?

Apparently, depositing checks. In fact, 35% say it’s the single most critical feature in a banking app.

The second most valuable feature (for 33% of people) is reviewing balance or statements. The third one? Well, 31% find the ability to transfer funds between accounts indispensable.

Fun fact: 8% of customers use their bank’s mobile app to locate nearby ATMs.

Digital Banking Trends

Banking is changing fast, mostly thanks to digitalization.

But, then again, digital banking itself is changing fast, too.

Granted, all-things-digital change quite fast as a general rule, but in this case, we dare say that the coronavirus pandemic further expedited this phenomenon.

12. 27% of Americans changed banks during the pandemic.

(Source: Forbes)

The rising popularity of online banking in the US is having an effect the industry might not have anticipated—like people being now more likely than ever to change banks.

Since most people now rarely visit their financial institution's physical office, the interpersonal connections that once existed between a bank and a customer are no longer as strong. For many, a bank means little more than a handy mobile app.

This, coupled with the financial instability COVID-19 caused, prompted over a fifth of  American banking customers to switch over to a different financial institution in just 2020-2021.

For comparison, in the two years preceding the pandemic, the same figure stood at 12%.

Fun fact: 40% of those who use digital banking say they would switch banks to get more comprehensive digital banking tools.

13. As of 2022, 65.3% of the people in the country use digital banking.

(Source: Statista)

Digital banks in the US are big—just not quite as big as they are in China and India.

Currently, about 65.3% of the country’s population uses digital tools for banking. That’s close to 200 million people, so it’s quite impressive.

That said, this figure is going up surprisingly slowly—at around 1% yearly. Case in point: It stood at precisely 61.3% back in 2018.

14. Over 3.6 billion people will use digital banking by 2024.

(Source: Juniper Research)

The latest digital banking statistics suggest that in just four years, the number of digital banking users will rise by more than 50%.

At the beginning of 2020, 2.4 billion people worldwide did online banking. By 2024, projections suggest this number will increase by over a billion, reaching a total 3.6 billion.

15. 93% of Britons use some form of digital banking.

(Source: Finder; Statista)

Here’s a curious online banking trend: The farther north a country is located geographically, the higher the digital banking adoption rate.

Perhaps people who live in such cold places dislike pointless walks to a physical branch. We can sympathize.

96% of Norwegians, 95% of Icelanders, and 93% of Finnish use online banking. In Germany, things look different—barely 50% of the population is into digital banking apps. Further south, just 45% of Italians and 43% of Greeks use these tools.

Eastern Europe is a different beast altogether, with the average penetration rate for the region sitting at 15%.

Wrap Up

Online banking in America is well-developed, but it’s not yet ubiquitous. Although most people—not all, but most—have at least one bank account, not all of them are interested in online banking.

And that’s okay.

Entrusting your money to someone else—be it a person or an institution—is already hard enough, but trusting a mobile app?

Yeah, we don’t need banking stats to see how that may be even harder to do (no matter how convenient the solution may be).

That, of course, is not to say that banking apps are unreliable by nature. On the contrary, if there’s anything that we can say for sure is (a) that technology evolves quite quickly, and (b) that the banking industry is utterly invested in cybersecurity.

Banks want you to trust them with your money, and if that means investing millions in cybersecurity measures or adopting blockchain technology, they’re willing to do it.

Anyway, our collection of digital banking statistics ends here, but digital banking itself doesn’t. We will keep an eye out for any news and let you know all the latest developments.