Millennial’s Banking Habits Could Spell Trouble for Big Name Banks

Now-a-days, everything is getting simpler as competition pushes people to come up with the latest and greatest solutions to today’s problems. The rush for the next big idea is sweeping the banking industry as companies like Venmo and Square are becoming household names, as they’re observed taking over millennial’s phones and monetary transactions. Apple and Google have even come up with their own payment methods, making external money management virtually obsolete.

Apple pay makes buying simpler by confirming a purchase at a compatible register with a simply double click of the home button on your iPhone. This simplistic one-touch confirmation is what is sweeping to banking industry. With Venmo, it is now as easy to pay your debts as it is to send a text message. All you need to do is find the person who you owe on the app, write the amount you owe them, or they owe you, and send it for them to confirm. Just like that the debt is paid for.

The only thing required to use this technology is to simply plug in your credit/debit card information and/or hook the system up to your bank account and you’re golden. But with all of this information out there, isn’t it sort of dangerous? That may be one reason why the new technological trend isn’t picking up too much steam with the older generations.

The 2015 Makovsky Wall Street Study, under the section covering millennial’s habits, said that 49% of millennial consumers would consider using financial services options from companies such as Google and Apple, whereas only 16% of older consumers would consider doing the same. Is there true safety in the mobile/web based platforms, or are we looking at a volcano waiting to erupt? We’ve been on to this mobile banking system for a few years now without many hiccups or big cases of fraud, so my guess is that it is pretty safe.

With this switch, do we really even need tellers, or bank branches at all? For the time being yes, but in the near future I can definitely see a push away from this older style of banking. Today we don’t really even need to travel to a bank for every day transactions. For instance, need to deposit a check? Direct deposit is an option or you can simply take a picture of the check and upload it to your bank’s app for an easy deposit. Need cash? Quick trip to the nearest ATM. Owe someone money, or someone owes you money? Venmo to the rescue.

I agree that I once felt insecure towards online banking and mobile apps, which had your credit card and bank info, but now after using them I have a level of comfort with both that I wouldn’t think otherwise about how I’d manage my money. With them transactions are made easier, which makes life easier. As the technology industry continues to grow and people to try find new ways to make life easier, I believe banking will change rendering older systems and styles of banking obsolete. If big banks can cope to this change then they may be fine. I think the key is to stay ahead of trends and to integrate their systems into newer technological advancements in the banking industry.