Banks Need to Provide Fee Transparency to Stay Competitive

In 2019, one of the most remarkable companies that managed to break into the traditional banking industry was Chime, a digital banking startup that has over 6.5 million accounts and valued at 5.8 billion dollars. Their $500M funding was the biggest in history for a digital bank.

“It all comes down to trust. And, of course, fees.”

This Fortune article reports a panel discussion between CEOs of digital banks where the panels emphasize the importance of trust in fee policy and attribute their success to differentiating themselves from traditional banks. It is no coincidence that Chime has chosen to emphasize “No hidden fees, ever” on their website.

At Blind, we surveyed verified professionals from tech and finance companies on our platform to better understand what influences these high earning professionals to choose a bank to trust with their earnings.

From December 17th to 29th 2019, we surveyed a total of 3,855 users and asked the following question: what is the most important factor when choosing a bank?

Key Takeaways

  • 34.3% felt transparency on fees and policies was the most important factor when choosing a bank.
  • Transparency greatly outweighed other factors such as user experience, brand, customer service, and benefits.
  • Of the 8.1% of the respondents who answered “other” and provided a written response, many wrote that “interest rates” was the most important factor for them.