Millennials Would Prefer to Bank With Google or Amazon

Banks had better watch their backs.

The rising generation of young Americans not only have little loyalty to banks, according to a three-year survey of 10,000 people born between 1981 and 2000 — many also believe that traditional financial institutions are on their way to irrelevance.

Over half (53%) of millennials say that nothing sets their personal bank apart from its competitors, according to the survey by Scratch, a brand consultancy division of Viacom. One in three said that they would consider switching to a new bank within the next 90 days. And the nation's four-largest banks — JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) — are among the 10 least-loved brands in the survey, which asked respondents for their impressions of 73 companies in 15 industries.

Young people may be adopting a blasé attitude toward banks because they believe the current financial system is on the way out. Roughly half of respondents said that they are "counting on tech start-ups to overhaul the way banks work," according to the survey. Sixty-eight percent said that the way people access money will be completely different within five years, while 70% said that the way people make purchases will change drastically within that time frame.

Given these technological changes, 33% of respondents predicted that they won't need a bank at all in the future. An overwhelming majority (73%) report that they would be more excited about new financial services options from Google, Amazon, Apple, PayPal or Square than from their own nationwide bank.

Sarah Todd is a news reporter at American Banker.

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