If internet searches can serve as a kind of popularity
contest, the banking institutions that have seen the sharpest surge of
attention in the past five years aren’t the biggest U.S. banks. They’re the
financial technology — or “fintech” — companies that became particularly
appealing during the pandemic. Searches for digital banking features, such as
mobile check deposits, also grew as U.S. banking habits shifted further away
from in-person transactions.
Searches for alternative banking firms rise
Four popular fintech brands — Chime, Green Dot, PayPal’s
PYPL, 0.06% Venmo and Square’s Cash App — have seen a surge in Google searches
as they’ve gained a foothold in the banking industry, according to Google GOOGL,
-0.97% Trends, a tool offered by the internet giant that tracks the relative
popularity of search terms over time.
About 4 in 5 Americans (79%) use mobile payment apps such as
Venmo and Cash App, according to a February 2020 NerdWallet survey. Chime and
Green Dot, meanwhile, have steadily built their customer bases, in part by
serving Americans who have limited access to traditional banking services. They
provide low-cost banking accounts with big ATM and cash reload networks. And
their accounts serve as second chance banking options for people unable to open
traditional bank accounts due to unpaid overdraft fees or other issues in the
past.
The biggest collective spike in Google searches for the four
fintech brands came the week of April 12, 2020. That period coincided with the
first round of COVID-19 economic impact payments — aka “stimulus checks.” News
coverage of Chime, Cash App and Venmo at the time highlighted changes to their
offerings that made them more attractive options for receiving stimulus direct
deposits instead of waiting for checks in the mail.
“The pandemic created financial uncertainty for a lot of
people,” says Chanelle Bessette, banking specialist at NerdWallet. “Quick
access to funds, especially stimulus payments, became a big concern, and
alternative banking services were able to adapt for consumers.”
In mid-April 2020, Cash App and Venmo both added the ability
to accept direct deposits so customers could have stimulus money sent straight
to their accounts — especially important for those without bank accounts.
Google searches that week for “cash app” went up by 32%, compared with the
previous week; queries for “venmo” rose 12%. Both apps saw multiple jumps in
searches throughout the pandemic.
Search volume for “chime,” the largest of the so-called
neobanks, spiked by 46% that same week in mid-April, compared with the previous
week. The company managed to make stimulus money available to hundreds of
thousands of its checking account customers up to five days earlier than April
15, the date the U.S. Treasury sent stimulus funds to banks. Similar to how the
company provides early access to direct-deposited paychecks, Chime credited the
money to customer accounts before actually receiving it from the government.
Green Dot Corp. is more than a decade older than Chime and
is known for mobile-focused bank accounts such as GoBank and GO2Bank, designed
for low- to moderate-income Americans. It offers debit cards online and at
thousands of U.S. retail locations, including Walmart stores. Similar to Chime,
Green Dot accounts provide access to direct deposits up to two days early. In
the second week of April 2020, Green Dot searches skyrocketed by 257%, reaching
an all-time high in searches for the term “green dot.”
“Cash App, Venmo, Chime and Green Dot were able to grab the
attention of folks looking for more accessible ways to manage their money,”
Bessette says.
Search interest in big banks declines
The four biggest U.S. banks — Chase, JPM, 0.71% Bank of
America, BAC, 0.74% Wells Fargo WFC, 2.69% and Citibank C, 0.52% — hold a
significant share of consumers’ money, with at least $1 trillion in assets
each. Unsurprisingly, they also get far higher search traffic relative to newer
banking players. But searches for these banks have steadily declined in the
past five years.
Comparing each bank’s searches in the first week of August
in 2016 and 2020, the term “chase bank” dropped by 23%; “bank of america” by
24%; “wells fargo” by 37%; and “citibank” by 44%. Those four institutions
include the three largest networks of bank-owned branches, but the competition
with newer banking companies is taking place primarily online as the prospect
of cheaper, mobile-focused banking accounts becomes more attractive to
consumers.
Banking behavior gets more digital
More than half of Americans, 52%, said they had visited bank
branches less often since the pandemic started, according to a February 2021
study by NerdWallet and Marcus by Goldman Sachs. And a third of Americans have
either tried or increased their usage of digital banking services, such as
mobile check deposits or online bill pay. But behavioral shifts toward digital
banking started years before the pandemic.
Google search volume for the term “mobile banking” peaked in
April 2020, coinciding with the release of COVID-19 stimulus payments, but the
more technical term “mobile check deposit” also saw its biggest surge that
month. Taking photos of paper checks with smartphones’ banking apps has become
more common as people look to streamline their financial lives and avoid
visiting bank branches or ATMs.
The gradual increase in search interest for the terms
“mobile check deposit” and “atm cash deposit” may relate to more people moving
their banking online, including opting for online-only institutions. Bank
branches have long been the places to cash checks and deposit cash, but as more
online-only institutions, especially upstarts such as Chime, come onto the
scene, finding workarounds for dealing with cash and checks can require some
research.
The pandemic, and especially the stimulus payments that
resulted, contributed to several spikes in search terms around banking
institutions and services that focus on getting fast or easy access to money.
Chime, Green Dot’s GoBank, Cash App and Venmo all offer access to direct
deposits days earlier than many traditional banks, which can be a big deal for
anyone living in financial uncertainty or distress.
“Interest in mobile banking and mobile-first financial
providers was bound to increase over time,” Bessette says. “The pandemic just
encouraged people to re-evaluate their money management much faster than they
otherwise might have.”
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