The ripple effect emanating from the 2008 global financial crisis continues to be felt in 2019. A decade on, 66% of British people say they do not trust financial institutions to work in the best interests of UK society, according to YouGov Omnibus research carried out last year.

Fear persists to the point that 63% of respondents are worried the banks could cause another financial crisis.

Just as trust in traditional banking has broken down, the fintech revolution has revved up several gears as consumers embrace the chance to manage money at their fingertips.

Over the past 12 months, 32% of people have used a banking app to make a mobile payment or transfer money, rising to 48% among those aged 15 to 34, according to Ipsos Mori data. Some 11% of those surveyed have used an app from an online-only or mobile-only bank.

This wider shift to managing money online has fuelled a desire for clarity and transparency in payments and investments. No longer closed off and opaque, these sectors are being opened up by digital players focused on transparency and prioritising customer choice.

This approach resonates with millennial and Gen Z consumers, because they do not care about the old ways of doing things, insists Gary Rohloff, co-founder and managing director of payment platform Laybuy. He argues the millennial market in particular has shifted away from credit cards after seeing what debt did to people during the recession.

We ask ourselves, would a bank do this? And if the answer is yes, we don’t do it.

David Sandström, Klarna
“The global financial crisis shook the world and there’s still a hangover. Young people who have lived through that are very sceptical about the whole finance sector as a result,” Rohloff states.

“Plus, we’re all busy and we want control over what’s happening with our money, because it’s hard won and if I’m having to pay people for stuff I don’t really understand that gets me into trouble. It’s just not right.”

This is the premise behind Laybuy, an interest free payments platform which spreads the cost of purchases online or in-store across six instalments. The consumer pays the first instalment upfront and then can choose which day of the week they want the subsequent five payments to come out of their account over the remaining weeks.

Based on the internal strapline ‘making the desirable affordable responsibly’, Laybuy has been designed with transparency at its heart. Consumers, for example, receive a notification saying the payment will be coming out of their account the day before the due date. If the payment is missed they have a 24-hour grace period to make the payment, otherwise their Laybuy account is suspended and a £6 late payment fee incurred.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.marketingweek.com