Just over a year ago I believed that new challenger banks were on the edge of glory, about to kick off an era of better and fairer banking for everybody.
In an article for ResPublica I wrote: ‘When real colour is injected into the financial services industry, consumers will be better served and ultimately empowered to engage.’ New challenger banks were meant to deliver this colour, and to better serve customers. Alas, I wrong. New banks are simply not delivering better banking.
These new challenger banks are important because they’ve been held up as the white knights of banking. The story goes something like this: more competition will force bloated incumbents to get a little bit smarter and help to improve products and customer services across the board. Firms that don’t shape up risk customers voting with their feet, and helping to bring to life what the Financial Services Consumer Panel calls ‘consumers as co-regulators’.
It’s hard to argue against this narrative.
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