57% OF BRITS WILL PAY FOR A Banking account IF GIVEN VALUABLE ADD-ON SERVICES

Loyal customers can also be enticed to switch if banks offered Netflix and Amazon Prime subscriptions

Zuora, Inc., (NYSE: ZUO) the leading cloud-based subscription management platform provider, today unveiled research which reveals that though faithful to their banks (24% have never changed banks; 28% changed banks over 5 years ago), consumers would be prepared to pay – or even switch banks – in return for extra services. According to the report, only 28% of consumers pay a fixed monthly or annual fee for their bank, yet more than half (57%) of respondents could be willing to pay an extra monthly bank fee to be able to receive additional services, with media services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime (45%) beating traditional offerings such as earned cash back (40%), overdraft facilities (37%) and travel insurance (22%).

The UK-wide study of 1,000 consumers, conducted by CitizenMe with Zuora, demonstrates the rising preference for UK banks to supply ongoing access to critical and everyday services such as TV, video on demand (VOD) in place of traditional services such as insurance and overdraft facilities.

“We're seeing the potential for a significant shift in UK banking due to the rise of the Subscription Economy(R)” said Zuora Md for EMEA, John Phillips. “Up until this point, consumers have been historically hesitant to switch banks, mainly due to the fact that there wasn’t a noteworthy distinction between one account and the other. But with the evolution of available subscription services and increasing customer interest in them, banks are in a unique position to capture the interest and long-term business of consumers – even anyone who has before been reluctant to make a change.”

Additional report findings include:

@ Most consumers (72%) do not currently pay a monthly fee to their bank, but for those who do pay a fee (28%), most claimed not to receive any of the listed benefits

@ For those who do receive extra services because of paying a fee, smartphone insurance (16%), travel cover (15%) and free overdraft facilities (13%) are most frequently provided

@ Consumers who are willing to pay a recurring and/or fixed fee to their bank are least interested in receiving additional services like flying club miles (11%), car services (12%), and travel cover (23%), showing a shift from interest around traditional services

“Beginning with software over two decades ago, then with publishing and entertainment, now transportation, retail and banking — consumers desire to be given the flexibility to choose with no burden of ownership.” said Phillips. “In a period of pro-consumer regulations such as the EU PSD2 Directive and Open Banking, this is a huge opportunity for banks to evolve and move towards a new model in which they partner using their customers to provide real value and, consequently, realise new sources of revenue.”

This research echoes the general findings from the recent report, 'A Nation Subscribed,' the UK-wide study conducted by YouGov with Zuora, which highlighted the increasing preference to use more subscription services two years from now and overall consumer preference for VOD (38%) and television services (40%).