As Singapore progresses toward being a smart nation, the myriad technological advancements also signalled changes for the way we deal with money, resulting in the rise in popularity of digital banks. Unlike traditional banks like DBS, OCBC, UOB which also provides online banking services, digital banks operate entirely online and generally do not have any physical branches or ATMs.
As Singapore progresses towards a cashless society, around 30.9% of respondents have their banks and cards linked to their phone and use it for payment, while 66.8% of respondents continue to use cash or physical cards.
Although digital banking remains relatively new to us, more than half of our respondents reacted positively to wanting to sign up for a digital bank account. 61.1% of them have either already set up an account or are intending to. This is a good sign for Singapore as we continue to progress towards being a cashless society.
But let’s delve deeper and find out the thought process behind the decisions that Singaporeans make with regard to signing up with a digital bank.
Of the individuals who were not open to the idea of signing up for an account with a digital bank, these are top 3 reasons as to why they are not signing up just yet. However, other survey respondents continue to see the value of digital banking and support the use of it. Our survey results also uncovered the top 3 reasons why individuals signed up for a digital banking account.
While digital banks are here to stay, it may still take Singaporeans some time to be receptive to the idea of banking digitally. We remain hopeful for the slow but sure transition to a cashless society as we wean off reliance to cash and physical cards in time to come.