The EY Consumer Directed Finance survey reveals that a pandemic-fuelled surge in digital interactions and transactions is driving 56% of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) surveyed to share their business data with financial services providers in exchange for personalized, technology-fuelled solutions to meet their needs.
“The impact of the pandemic on SMBs has created a significant opportunity for financial institutions to revisit their value proposition and pivot from service provider to strategic business partner,” says Abhishek Sinha, EY Canada Open Banking Leader. “But achieving that customer relationship will require increased education and awareness of the security investments being made by Canadian financial services providers to help address concerns around privacy and ethical data use.”
The ability to protect data and respond to the latest security threats — from channels to back-end processing — is critical to fostering customer trust. Among SMBs most reluctant to share data, 37% cited data security as their top concern for not doing so.
“The business case is there but now, financial services providers must actively communicate the benefits and build trust with clients to deepen relationships,” adds Sinha. “Deploying advanced technologies at scale and leveraging clients’ data assets can help create insights-based products and customized solutions that drive strategic business decisions and market agility, while eliminating friction.”
Medium-sized businesses may be more convinced — roughly 30% indicated they were more willing to share data across the board, compared to small businesses. And more than half (64%) are comfortable doing so with fintechs or competitor banks. But preferences for the type of data shared is shifting. The majority of respondents across Canada are 20% less likely to share purchasing, sales and inventory data.