Most Americans prefer to do their banking through mobile apps, according to new research released by Morning Consult on behalf of the American Bankers Association. Since the pandemic started, 44% of bank customers used apps on phones or other mobile devices as their top options for managing their bank accounts the survey found—an increase from 33% pre-pandemic.
In-person banking at a bank branch declined to 10% from 21% before the pandemic as the option consumers used most frequently to manage their bank accounts. The use of online banking through a laptop or PC increased from 24% before the pandemic to 26%.
The survey of 2,201 U.S. adults also found that bank visits have fallen by at least 8 percentage points among all generations during the pandemic. For Baby Boomers, prior to the pandemic, visiting a bank branch was the second most-used method for managing their finances at 28%, but it fell to the third spot (17%) below mobile apps (29%) after COVID-19. More than half of Generation Z, millennials and Generation X said they now use mobile banking apps most often.