Making the Case for Open Finance: Consumer Statistics

At the core of delivering our mission is the ability for people to access, understand, share, and deploy their financial data in ways that can improve their financial outcomes. MX works with thousands of financial service providers to help tens of millions of North American consumers to better understand their financial data, gain a better experience managing their money, and make better financial decisions. 

We believe an open finance ecosystem — where everyone can access and act on financial data — enables smarter, faster, and more reliable money experiences. As both the U.S. and Canada governments formalize rulemaking that fosters Open Banking and Open Finance, we’ve rounded up some of our consumer data and statistics that support the case for Open Finance from MX’s collection of consumer research reports. 

In this post, you’ll find stats related to: 

• Creating a Consolidated View of Finances
• Account Connectivity
• Data-Driven Personalization
• Top Features Consumers Want

Creating a Consolidated View of Finances

• 78% of consumers expect to be able to see all of their financial data in one place. (What Influences Where Consumers Choose to Bank, 2023)
• Half of consumers (52%) agree they aren’t sure what companies or financial providers have access to their financial data. (What Influences Where Consumers Choose to Bank, 2023)
• Less than half of consumers (44%) say they have used digital tools to bring different financial accounts into one view. (How to Keep Consumers from Breaking Up with Banks, 2024). Why? Top reasons include: 
• I don’t care about seeing all my accounts in one place (25%)
• I don’t have multiple accounts to combine (21%)
• I don’t know how to do this (17%) 
• I’m concerned about sharing my financial information (17%)
• 64% of consumers said they’d rather keep all of their financial data separated by account to ensure security and privacy. This is compared to 36% who would prefer to securely share their financial data from all their accounts so they can receive personalized guidance and insights in one place. However, among Gen Z and Millennials, the scale is tipping. Half of Gen Z and 41% of Millennials would rather share their financial data to receive personalized guidance and insights versus keeping data separated by account. (How to Keep Consumers from Breaking Up with Banks, 2024). 
• 41% of data strategy leaders agree it has become increasingly difficult to create a holistic view of their organization’s consumers’ financial lives and understand their needs. (Unlocking Actionable Intelligence: Key Takeaways from Forrester Opportunity Snapshot, 2024)

Account Connectivity

• Consumers who connect at least one or more external financial accounts are 48% more likely to be digitally active a year later than those who don’t. (How to Build Long-Term Digital Engagement, 2024)
• When asked what they would do if their preferred bank or credit union did not support connecting to their favorite fintech apps, 72% of U.S. consumers said they would seek out a different bank or credit union that could connect. This was even higher for Millennials and Gen X respondents at 75%. (Consumer Research on Digital and Mobile Banking, 2022) 
• 29% of consumers have connected multiple financial accounts into one app to simplify how they manage their finances. This jumps to 37% among Gen Z and 46% of Millennials. (What is Financial Wellness?, 2023)
• 30% of U.S. consumers rated the ability to see and control who has access to their financial data as critical for digital or mobile banking capabilities. (What Consumers Want from Financial Providers, 2023)

• One in 4 consumers say they have experienced technical issues when connecting external financial accounts to their financial apps or online financial accounts. (Consumer Research on Digital and Mobile Banking, 2022) 
• 73% of U.S. consumers say they have connected money-related apps to their financial accounts, with Gen Z (78%) and Millennials (84%) being most likely to have done this. (Consumer Money Matters, 2022)
  
• 8% of U.S. consumers said no when asked if connecting an app to a financial account went smoothly the first time they attempted it. For Gen Z, this jumps slightly to 12%.  (Consumer Money Matters, 2022)
• 27% of U.S. consumers said that they have had to reconnect an account because the connection broke.  (Consumer Money Matters, 2022)
• 45% of U.S. consumers who have been disconnected also say that their connected financial accounts and money-related apps regularly get disconnected. (Consumer Money Matters, 2022)

Data-Driven Personalization

• More than half of U.S. consumers (54%) expect their financial provider to know them.  (How to Keep Consumers from Breaking Up with Banks, 2024)
• Most consumers (54%) want financial providers to leverage data they have about them to personalize their experience.  (How to Keep Consumers from Breaking Up with Banks, 2024)
• 48% of consumers say they would give their financial provider access to more of their data if they knew it would result in a better experience. Among Gen Z (54%) and Millennials (58%), this is even higher. (How to Keep Consumers from Breaking Up with Banks, 2024)
• 79% of North American data leaders agree financial data intelligence is critical to their organization’s success in the future. The majority (80%) also agree being able to utilize consumer financial data effectively would be a significant competitive advantage for them. (Unlocking Actionable Intelligence: Key Takeaways from Forrester Opportunity Snapshot, 2024)
• 39% of consumers say they are likely to provide access to their financial transaction history to receive more personalized offers and services from a retailer or restaurant that they frequently visit. Among Gen Z (44%), Millennials (53%), and Gen X (46%), this is even higher. (What Influences Where Consumers Choose to Bank, 2023)
• When asked how much data they would be willing to share, consumers are still considering where to draw the line. Fourteen percent said they would share all of it, while the largest response group (34%) said they would only share what’s absolutely necessary.  (What Influences Where Consumers Choose to Bank, 2023)
• When asked to what extend do they feel their organization is falling short of where it needs to be, the top 4 areas where North American data leaders at financial institutions  believe they are falling somewhat or significantly short include (Unlocking Actionable Intelligence: Key Takeaways from Forrester Opportunity Snapshot, 2024): 
• Account Aggregation: 27% said they fall short in their ability to allow consumers to aggregate external financial accounts into their organizations app/site to create a comprehensive view of their finances
• Data Aggregation: 27% said they fall short in their ability to compile data into a single aggregated and enhanced source
• Marketing Programs and Customer Intelligence: 27% said they fall short in their ability to use real-time data to make informed marketing decisions
• Personalization: 26% said they fall short in their ability to leverage data to deliver personalized offers, messages, and services to consumers
• 60% of data leaders say their organization is concerned about how to deliver personalized experiences at scale to customers. And, nearly 1 in 4 (23%) say they don’t currently leverage data about their consumers’ financial lives to personalize products and services. (Unlocking Actionable Intelligence: Key Takeaways from Forrester Opportunity Snapshot, 2024)
• The vast majority (81%) of data leaders agree being able to personalize experiences based on consumer financial data is a must-have for the future. (Unlocking Actionable Intelligence: Key Takeaways from Forrester Opportunity Snapshot, 2024)

Top Features Consumers Want

• The top 5 most important elements when choosing a financial provider across all respondents include (How to Keep Consumers from Breaking Up with Banks, 2024): 
• 23% Offers a mobile banking app
• 18% Has a good reputation
• 17% No/low fees
• 14% Has convenient locations
• 9% Enables me to connect accounts for other financial institutions to see things in one place

• When it comes to what consumers most want to help them manage financial accounts online or through a mobile app, here are the features that rose to the Top 3 most often (What Consumers Want from Financial Providers, 2023): 
• Gen Z
• 31% Connect outside financial accounts so they can see all financial data in one place
• 25% Integration with digital wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay
• 22% Order a personalized card
• 20% Instantly issued virtual cards
• 19% Enroll in paperless account statements
• Millennials
• 32% Order a personalized card
• 31% Integration with digital wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay
• 27% Connect outside financial accounts so they can see all financial data in one place
• 24% Instantly issued virtual cards
• 23% Open new accounts online
• Gen X
• 41% Order a personalized card
• 29% Open new accounts online
• 29% Instantly issued virtual cards
• 25% Integration with digital wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay
• 25% Connect outside financial accounts so they can see all financial data in one place
• Baby Boomers
• 45% Integration with digital wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay
• 45% Instantly issued virtual cards
• 36% Connect outside financial accounts so they can see all financial data in one place
• 32% Order a personalized card
• 25% Open new accounts online
• The top features each generation wants most when it comes to the security and control of their financial accounts are (What Consumers Want from Financial Providers, 2023):
• Gen Z
• 40% Ability to download your financial data
• 40% Required multi-factor authentication
• 36% Ability to restrict transactions above a specific amount
• 35% Ability to see and control who has access to your financial data
• 33% Ability to get emails on transactions made
• Millennials
• 39% Ability to download your financial data
• 33% Ability to get emails on transactions made
• 29% Ability to set up card specific alerts
• 28% Ability to restrict transactions at specific vendors or locations
• 24% Biometric login options

• Gen X
• 40% Biometric login options
• 36% Ability to download your financial data
• 31% Required multi-factor authentication
• 29% Ability to restrict transactions above a certain amount
• 28% Ability to restrict transactions at specific vendors or locations
• Baby Boomers
• 48% Biometric login options
• 30% Ability to download your financial data
• 28% Required multi-factor authentication
• 27% Ability to restrict transactions at specific vendors or locations
• 26% Ability to restrict transactions above a certain amount