It’s not news that traditional Financial Services firms are feeling mounting pressure to meet the demands of consumers, compete against new non-traditional services in the market, and adapt their outreach and services. Understanding the Underbanked, a historically neglected but growing segment of the population, was a huge opportunity for the client – who serves nearly half of US households with a broad range of products such as personal and business banking solutions, credit cards, mortgages, investment advice, small business loans and payment processing.

The Underbanked is an audience that earns less than $75k a year, lives in both urban and rural locations, spans all ethnicities, has a bank account (unlike the un-banked), and largely uses alternative (and often costly) financial sources, such as money orders, check cashing facilities, wire transfers, etc. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the size of this segment, and the client sought to learn more about them – their attitudes, behaviors, needs, concerns – and how a Financial Services company could attract, engage, and build loyalty with them.

The Underbanked wants to be a customer for the client, but because of their habits, coupled with feelings of pride and embarrassment, they haven’t had success in making that transition. CMB’s research confirmed that FinTechs are a valuable alternative to traditional banks for this audience and needed a better understanding. Another important finding from this research was that the challenges and motivators among the Underbanked are universal – there were no ethnicity or urbanicity differences. This group was monolithic in their shared experiences of being Underbanked. CMB delivered a knowledge base of the underbanked, a foundation for marketing, product, and service development, and a roadmap for future research. Knowledge gaps were uncovered that the client needed to fill and recommendations were provided to complete the ideal Underbanked profile.