Millennials are warming to wearables

Nearly half of British 18-30-year-olds have banked on a wearable device since the launch of Apple Watch, with London being the most active region for wearable banking, closely followed by Northern Ireland and Yorkshire, according to new research from Intelligent Environments.

The research suggests that that the popularity of wearable technology is rapidly growing among millennials, with 46 per cent of 18-30-year olds saying they have used a wearable device for banking purposes.

This suggests that the arena is there for the taking since 47 per cent have said they would like their bank to launch a wearable banking app.

More than half (52 per cent) of millennials expressed a desire to manage their finances via wearable devices, showing that younger people are keen to use wearables frequently rather than on and off or inconsistently.

Wearable banking was also revealed to be popular among those aged 31-40, 46 per cent of whom expressed a desire to use it.

London continued to show why it is the European FinTech capital by being the most active region for utilising wearable banking technology, with 49 per cent having used their banks’ apps for wearable devices, with Northern Ireland the second most active region at 38 per cent and Yorkshire third at 33 per cent.

The research findings suggest that the banks that haven’t yet launched wearable-enabled banking apps are missing out on a massive opportunity to engage new customers. The study found that over half (51 per cent) of 18-30 year olds would be more interested in digital banking because of wearable technology, a key target demographic for retail banks across the country.

“This is an important and rapidly evolving segment, and as our research shows is crucial to engaging millennials. The 18-30 year old demographic is an important one for banks looking to establish a long-lasting customer relationship.

With almost half of this age bracket calling for their banks to launch apps designed for wearable banking, banks would benefit hugely from improving their digital banking offering,” said David Webber, managing director of Intelligent Environments.

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