• Up from 40% 2 years ago

Research by Yolt, the smart thinking money app backed by ING, reveals that 70% of UK consumers now use a financial app to manage their finances – a figure which rises to 89% of millennials. A marked increase from 2016 research which, showed nearly 40% of adults used apps to manage their money.[1] The Yolt research also found that nearly half of over-55s use an app to manage their money.  This increased interest in financial apps comes alongside the introduction of Open Banking, which promises to change the way the nation banks.

Consumers using a financial app to manage their finances have already seen benefits from Open Banking, according to the Yolt survey.  6% think there is now more competition between banks and financial service providers since Open Banking was introduced and 20% of respondents said that they are now able to see their different accounts in one place.

However, there is still a lot of work to do before all financial app consumers are aware of the potential benefits of Open Banking. Although 22% of respondents are aware of Open Banking, the majority of consumers haven’t yet seen any changes to the way they manage their money.  60% of consumers said their main bank hadn’t yet communicated the Open Banking changes to them and 22% didn’t know if they’d had any information about Open Banking from their bank.

Leon Muis, COO at Yolt, said:

“The UK is switched on to the benefits of money apps, from managing their finances, making payments, comparing products and much more.  Nearly three-quarters of Brits are now using some kind of app to manage their money. This is great news as we see Open Banking transform the way consumers interact with the retail financial services sector.  However, we still have a way to go in educating consumers on the latest benefits available to them through Open Banking. We’re really excited at Yolt to be leveraging Open Banking and empowering our users to do more with their money.”