Closing the Financial Inclusion Gap by Understanding What Factors Drive Consumer Selection of Financial Service Providers

Abstract

This research seeks to determine what factors and combinations of banking features drive the choice of a financial service provider. Two studies have been devised to explore the research question. The initial study, uses factor analysis and logistic regression to examine the importance of perceived cost, convenience, and relational trust in the choice of a financial services provider. An additional study uses choice-based conjoint analysis to conduct an exploratory study to identify combinations of banking features that potential customers perceive as most attractive. The study simulates real-world buying situations that ask research participants to trade one financial services attribute for another. Results from the first study suggest that a consumer’s choice of banks, prepaid cards, online lending, and the US Postal Service for financial services is associated with a preference for convenience while relational trust and perceived cost drives the choice of “street” AFS providers. In the second study, results from the choice-based conjoint analysis suggest that fees are significantly more important than convenience and level of customer contact across all categorical variables (age, gender, race/ethnicity, employment, income, and education). Additionally, in-person customer service contact is considered more important than convenience. Understanding these factors, optimal combinations and proportions, and trade-offs through the eyes of the consumer, may be of value to both policy makers and industry officials alike when grappling with options to strengthen financial inclusion.