New Study From Bond and Cornerstone Reveals Majority of Americans Want to Buy Financial Products From Brand Names Not Banks

More than 60% of Gen Z and Millennials are interested in financial products from their favorite brands with gaming, home fitness and fashion topping the list

SAN FRANCISCO, July 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bond Financial Technologies Inc., the leading embedded finance platform, and Cornerstone Advisors, a leading consulting firm, unveiled a first-of-its-kind study today that examines what consumers want from embedded finance. Replacing assumptions with facts, the research shows consumers want financial products from their favorite brand names, such as Apple, Gucci, and PlayStation, because they trust these brands and expect to benefit from cost and time savings.

A study of 2,555 adult Americans, The Flywheel Effect: How Embedded Finance Can Help Brands Generate Millions In Revenue And Increase Customer Loyalty, shows strong demand for financial products offered by non-financial companies, especially among brand loyalists and frequent users of those products.

• Gamers go gung-ho over rewards, in-game commerce. Nearly 8 in 10 (79%) of gamers for whom PlayStation is their favorite brand are interested in a credit card that will reward them for in-game purchases. Additionally, 75% of all gamers are interested in an in-game account where they could deposit money and use it to buy and sell virtual in-game items and collect rewards for game achievements or progress.
• Fitness and finance team up for health. Two-thirds of home fitness fans — who use apps and devices like Apple Watch, Fitbit and Peloton — expressed interest in health insurance from home fitness providers with rates based on their personal fitness habits.
• Fashion aficionados want to be financially savvy. Nearly two-thirds of fashion aficionados would consider getting an investment account from a luxury brand that allowed them to easily invest in that company's stock, crypto and other assets. Additionally, 68% of enthusiasts of Coach, the top-named luxury brand, said they would be interested in such an account.

"This research validates what we've been hearing from our customers and prospects — people want to consume financial services as part of their daily lives from their favorite brands, not just banks," said Roy Ng, CEO and co-founder of Bond and the sponsor of the research. "In particular, we are seeing embedded credit products becoming even more relevant to people's everyday lives, especially as we head into a more volatile macroeconomic environment." 

Brands may want to put financial services at the top of their strategic planning list for 2023. Consumers who access financial services directly from brands say that they now spend more money with the brand than they did before (32%) and that they regularly choose that brand over their competitors (30%). The potential big winners vary by category but include Amazon, Apple, Chanel, Chevrolet, Coach, CVS, Fitbit, Ford, Gucci, The Home Depot and Walgreens.

In fact, 64% of both Gen Z and Millennials, and 60% of Gen Xers, are interested in accessing an average of 15 different financial products from brands compared with just 42% of Boomers. The top reasons cited among all respondents are cost less for the financial product (81%), like and/or trusts the company (61%) and make using the financial product more convenient (58%).

Looking at the home improvement space, half of do-it-yourselfers are interested in having an account that automatically sets aside money to save for large home improvement projects from their favorite store. The Home Depot is the most popular in this category, cited by 49% of consumers. Among these, 53% said they are interested in securing a home equity loan directly from the company. If even 5% of Home Depot's customers took out a $40,000 home equity loan (the average HELOC amount according to Cornerstone Advisors' benchmark database), the company would be managing $54.4 billion in loans.

"We titled this report 'The Flywheel Effect' for a reason," explained Ron Shevlin, Chief Research Officer at Cornerstone and the study's author. "The embedded finance product makes money for the brand and generates even more revenue by turning customers into loyalists who spend more and more over time. The potential for a brand is massive."

• Download the Cornerstone Advisors report
• Step-by-step technical guide to building consumer secured charge cards

Cornerstone Advisors conducted The Flywheel Effect: How Embedded Finance Can Help Brands Generate Millions In Revenue And Increase Customer Loyalty study with 2,555 U.S. consumers between October 5, 2021 and October 18, 2021. The margin of error is +/-1.81%.

Bond enables any company to become a fintech. Through Bond's full-stack embedded finance platform, customers can offer personalized and compliant financial products to their end users, with a focus on high value-add products such as consumer and commercial charge cards. Bond was founded in 2019 by industry veterans from Blackrock, Goldman Sachs, SAP, SoFi, and Twilio, with deep roots in financial services, technology and enterprise software. Bond is a remote-first company, with office locations in San Francisco (HQ), New York City and Salt Lake City. Visit http://www.bond.tech to learn more.

Cornerstone Advisors, a management and technology consulting firm, brings innovative insights and strategic execution to banks, credit unions and fintechs, helping them reach the next level of performance. 

Jill Reed, Sift Communications: [email protected]

SOURCE Bond Financial Technologies, Inc.