Survey: 24% of respondents have a negative impression of digital banks, only 30% of users choose it as their primary account.

ECHO ASIA, together with a team from the Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School, conducted an experiential survey on digital banking users in Hong Kong, collecting opinions from 508 Hong Kong citizens through questionnaires. The research data shows that 24.1% of respondents have a poor impression of digital banks, with only 31.7% of users using digital banks as their main account, indicating that digital banking usage in Hong Kong faces certain challenges, with traditional banks still dominating the market. The survey found that 62.9% of respondents have digital bank accounts, with over half of 18-49 year olds (66.3%) and half of those 50 years old or older also owning digital bank accounts. More than half (54.2%) of respondents have had digital bank accounts for over two years, but only 31.7% consider digital banks as their main account, indicating that while digital banks have been in the market for some time, their usage frequency remains low. 68.3% of respondents who do not consider digital banks as their main channel mentioned that digital banks do not meet all their needs, have security concerns, or are unfamiliar with the services provided by digital banks. Some respondents also prefer physical or traditional banks. The majority of respondents (33.5%) believe that the account opening promotions offered by digital banks are the most valuable services, with over half (52.6%) stating that these promotions are more attractive than those offered by traditional banks, showing that digital banks' promotional strategies effectively attract new users. On the other hand, about 23.0% of respondents believe that savings services are the most valuable aspect of digital banks, but over half (53.2%) feel that traditional banks are better at meeting their savings needs, suggesting that there is still room for improvement in digital banks in establishing long-term trust and meeting core financial needs. ECHO ASIA founder Tang Zhihao stated that since the eight digital banks officially opened in 2020, the market acceptance has been increasing. By the end of 2023, digital banks had a total of 2.2 million deposit customers. However, the overall market share of digital banks among all retail banks in Hong Kong was only about 0.3% by the end of 2023, still at a relatively low level. The company's survey findings suggest that digital banks have the opportunity to further increase customer engagement and encourage customers to actively use the various banking products and services they offer.