Brazilians are more open to banking innovation, study finds

Brazil is among the countries that are considered pioneers in the adoption of technologies in the financial sector, according to a  study on consumer attitudes to innovation in banking carried out by Accenture.

The survey conducted with more than 47.000 people in 27 countries, including 2,000 Brazilians, has found that consumers in the Latin American country are more open to new ways of managing their money and are defined as “tech-savvy risk takers”.

Openness to novelties is not related to the development of the markets analyzed, since countries such as France and Japan were considered as skeptical in terms of adoption of new technology in financial services.

For example, about 7% of those polled in Japan said they are using new digital services – this compares with 43% of Brazilian consumers who claimed to do so. Brazil is only surpassed in its openness by Mexico, where 57% of those surveyed said they use financial services innovations, and China, where 61% adopted the novelties.

Brazilian mobile banking users check their accounts 23 times on average a month, while the so-called “heavy users”, who carry out more than 80% of transactions digitally, log into their bank accounts about 40 times a month, according to the annual study carried out by Deloitte, published by the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban) in June 2020.

The number of accounts opened via smartphones grew 66% in 2019 compared to the previous year, according to the research, totaling 6.5 million. Internet and mobile banking were responsible for 63% of banking transactions in Brazil that year.

Payments through near field communication technology (NFC) are also seeing a steady increase in Brazil, with 285% growth in November 2020 in relation to the same month last year, according to separate research by Rede, the payments arm of Brazilian bank Itaú Unibanco.

The study also noted that transactions using NFC through channels such as e-wallets, smartwatches and cards equipped with the technology have seen a steady monthly increase of about 20% since May 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic is the main driver behind the increase in popularity of NFC payments, with consumers and retailers prioritizing the method over direct contact with payment terminals or other point of sale devices in stores.