Ten Digital Banks to Keep an Eye on in 2020

In the next few years, plastic cards will disappear from the financial market, most traditional bank branches will close, and successful banks will switch from service sellers to become integrators of financial opportunities for customers. By that time, most of the world's financial institutions will enter 2.0 mode: banks will become available for money transactions around the clock from anywhere in the world.

Digital banking from a pleasant bonus is starting to be taken for granted, especially among young consumers. Studies have shown that 71% of millennials consider having a banking application “very important”, 51% made purchases online over the past month, and 27% used their phone to pay at the store.

The application becomes mandatory for financial institutions. The intuitive and attractive digital bank for the client is no longer a luxury, but a must-have option. The functions of applications and sites are standardized: what was considered advanced functionality a couple of years ago is becoming a trend. Banks no longer compete for instability and reputation: software features and the convenience of a mobile application come to the fore. To remain at the forefront of the digital revolution, as well as attract and retain customers, banks need to develop their applications based on six requirements, such as:

• Simplicity;
• Orderliness;
• Transparency;
• Security;
• Speed;
• Creating a positive image of the bank for the client.

Six simple requirements to the requirements for digital products of the bank will ensure trust and brand loyalty. People may not talk about the financial situation, but they will readily discuss the bank's application. If a financial institution makes life easier, the user will share this information, because useful innovations are an interesting topic for discussion. Digital banks used to be called innovative, today they are just banks.

Every year the list of banking services that an entrepreneur can use online from anywhere in the world is increasing. From the general list, one can single out the so-called mandatory minimum and additional services that are not yet available at all banks. The most popular services that entrepreneurs use almost every day are viewing the balance and movement on the main accounts, payments in foreign currency, as well as mandatory payments to the budget.

Let’s consider 10 Digital Banks that are worthy to pay attention to in 2020.

1. CIT Bank

CIT Bank is one of the ancient banks and has a hundred-year history, but in reality, it became popular only after 2008. What made it so popular? The reason is simple. This bank provides its customers with very favorable credit conditions for the acquisition of housing. But in general, it provides the same standard package of services like other banks.

2. Ally

Ally is a popular bank with a century of history. This bank has survived all the difficult times and crises and continues to work and improve to this day. Ally is the largest American bank in terms of car loans.

3. Capital One

Capital One was one of the first banks to own digital banking in the United States. Capital One has always had a development strategy and therefore managed to notice the prospect of this area in time, acquiring the technology of digital banking. Also, this bank has recently rebranded. Thanks to this, Capital One is now one of the promising banks in the digital financial market. Capital One offers unique conditions to each of its clients. In general, this is a worthy bank, and you should keep an eye on it in 2020.

4. Discover Bank

Discover Bank is not much different from other banks, but still, it has advantages that we cannot keep silent about. This bank provides very favorable conditions for making a deposit, and the interest rate starts at 2.5. The bank also gives a reliable guarantee about the safe storage of your account in this bank and shows you that it does not have hidden payments.

5. Monzo

Monzo is a very popular UK digital banking service that is loved by all travelers. Wherever you are using the Monzo application, you can quickly make a transfer (especially between users of the same system). There is the possibility of direct debits, and cool budgeting tools are also available. But one of the minuses of this digital bank is the lack of offers to receive interest on savings, as well as investment options.

6. BABB

BABB is a brand new digital banking service, which was founded in 2019. This banking service is aimed primarily at supporting digital currencies, and then the ordinary ones. Also, this service plans to cooperate directly with government agencies, which will soon release their digital currency. All users of this service have the right to receive a Black Card, which will support all monetary transactions in the international payment system.

7. Peculium

Peculium is a very important project that has been under development since 2017 and is already close to completion. The main direction of this digital bank is digital savings, as well as investments. This service has its artificial intelligence called AIEVE and this AI can provide its clients with any recommendations regarding investments.

8. EQIBank

This service is most suitable for people with a high level of income, as well as for legal entities. EQIBank is famous for its offshore banking services. Any person or any company can open an account with this bank. EQIBank with its activities covers 180 countries, and also works with 100 currency options plus digital assets. Since EQIBank offers to store digital assets worth up to $50 million, EQIBank is a unique service in the digital banking market.

9. Bankera

Bankera is a new digital bank that is built on blockchain technology. That is, Bankera offers its customers to use international banking services through the IBAN account system. The main goal of the bank is investments and everything related to them.

10. Revolut

This service is also mainly focused on people who like to travel. Revolut has a very attractive currency exchange system, as well as international transfers. Using the application on a mobile phone, all clients of this service can easily exchange currency anywhere in the world.

Conclusion

All the banks presented are interesting in their own way. Each has its distinctive features that attract customers. All of them are well developed and provide customers with unique services. Thanks to this, they deserve some close attention in 2020. We also want to say that the development of new digital financial technologies will contribute to the development of competition and increase the availability of financial services for the population.

Besides, new digital financial technologies can meet the urgent needs of the modern generation who want to save money and time by receiving services in digital format. But the most revolutionary in the process of developing the latest digital technologies is that the rapid development of various digital currencies undermines the monopoly of central banks on the issue of money, and the introduction of blockchain technologies can crowd out intermediaries (commercial banks) from the financial and monetary market since distributed ledger technologies (blockchain) allow users to carry out banking operations without using the services of intermediaries.

About the author

Mónica Rodríguez is a writer, art historian, and editor at LendGenius. She specializes in Art History, Art Conservation, History, Literature, Finance, Tech, Wellness, and Travel. In her free time, she's usually roaming the halls of the museum or the local bookstore surrounded by stacks of books.

Image courtesy of Verdict