A report by Sopra Steria has shown that a third of Germans still prefer direct branch contact for their banking. These are the conclusions of the "Digital Banking Experience" report by the market research company Ipsos and the technology and management consultancy Sopra Steria.

For 36% of bank customers in Germany, personal advisors are the first point of contact for communication with their house bank. 58% generally prefer the branch office interview and only one-fifth prefer to use the smartphone app for bank communication. On average in the EU, apps or websites are the primary interface to their bank for half of the people.

Contact with traditional bankers, therefore, remains particularly important in this country whereas app-first communication has not caught up yet. If there is anything unclear about a payment process, 40% of Germans would like direct contact with their contact person. The same applies to personal recommendations, for example for savings products (36%).

Why is this the case There is no general explanation as to why customers in Germany prefer to go to a bank branch, however, one reason is the large supply of bank branches. Measured by the number of inhabitants, Germany is well behind France (5. 3), Spain (5.

1), or Italy (4. 0) on the European average with 3. 2 branches per 10,000 inhabitants, according to statistics from the European Central Bank.

However, based on area, Germany has almost twice as many branches as the EU average thanks to its three-pillar model (savings banks, cooperative banks, and private banks) and is only surpassed by Belgium and Italy. Cash and Girocard are still more popular In addition, people in Germany appear to be less likely to contact their bank: 27%, for example, check their account balance at least once a day. The average of the customers surveyed in Europe is ten percentage points more (37%).

In Germany, cash and Girocard are very popular which is why fewer app-supported payment methods are in use compared to other European countries. Another possible reason is that the respondents interpret the term "communication channel with the bank" differently in each country. Customers in Germany, therefore, do not classify the use of the app for standard business transactions in banking as communication.

  No rejection of digital banking According to the study, there is no disproportionate rejection of digital banking channels in Germany. On the contrary, 20% of those surveyed stated that they could do without personal advice altogether. In the European average, this applies to 17%, with a view to international results outside of Europe it is even only 14%.

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