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May 29, 2014 – The growth in competition for young financial services consumers is highlighted in a recent poll by Accenture, which found that 72 percent of young people surveyed are willing to obtain services from Wal-Mart, Google, T-Mobile or other companies offering prepaid debit cards.

The 72 percent figure came from asking North Americans of ages 18 to 34 if they would switch to those companies if they offered banking services; the number to respond affirmatively in that age group in the United States was even higher at 77 percent. The list of companies the survey asked about also included Costco, Apple, Amazon, Yahoo, Verizon, Target and Walgreens. The survey was reported on in The Washington Post.

In general, respondents were more willing to consider singing up with Square or PayPal (50 percent and 41 percent respectively, across age groups) because of their already established financial connections with the companies.

"Branches are becoming less relevant for younger customers, who are more comfortable with digital technology and less concerned with traditional signifiers of a bank's worthiness," Accenture, a NAFCU Services Preferred Partner, said in its report. "For example, while more than 80 percent of customers consider it important that their bank has a long track record of financial performance, this factor is less important for younger customers."

Credit unions will learn how to keep apace of such trends during the Business Technology and Innovation sessions at NAFCU's Annual Conference and Solutions Expo, July 22-26 in Las Vegas.