Dive Brief:
- Online-only financial brands, like Chime and Cash App, are successfully courting customers with easy-to-use platforms, personalized support and low fees, according to a JD Power report.
- These online-only brands are especially popular among younger generations. About 40% of the new, primary checking accounts opened by millennials were at online-only brands. Among Gen Z, about 20% of those new primary checking accounts were at online-only brands.
- For many of these brands, from SoFi to Robinhood, “their brand really does stand for something, it's purpose-driven, there's a mission that customers understand,” said Paul McAdam, senior director of financial services at JD Power.
Dive Insight:
Customers are looking to improve their financial standing, and online-only financial brands are positioning themselves as the solution with purpose-driven messaging and easy-to-use budgeting and spending tools.
“What we see in the research is that they really are perceived as being more proactive and relevant in their messaging, backed up with these tools and services,” McAdam said.
These fintechs are taking deposits away from legacy financial institutions, as customers begin to open up more accounts.
Chime had the highest share of new checking account openings through the first quarter of 2026, followed by legacy financial institutions Chase and Wells Fargo. The fintech saw explosive growth: active members grew 19% year over year to 10.2 million in Q1 2026, according to an earnings release.
Some of this success has to do with the financial health of customers, McAdams said. “The types of new customers who are coming into retail banks are increasingly financially unhealthy.”
Fintechs are seeing the same type of customers, and they’re offering features that show they understand their financial realities, such as the ability to “get paid two days early,” various forms of overdraft coverage and cash advance, according to McAdams.
“Broadly speaking, they are delivering on the products, the financial health support, the technology,” McAdams said. “Where they're not delivering as well is the customer service in those instances where customers may have a problem, but they're delivering on the digital and the product-oriented promises.”
Legacy retail financial institutions still claim the vast majority of total assets, but attrition rates in some part of the marketplace should be cause for concern, according to JD Power. While financial institutions are seeking to hold customers’ primary account, customers are increasingly using other checking and spending account types of providers who could take a larger share of deposits.
