61% of Consumers Would Be OK With Login Methods Other Than Passwords

Today’s consumers have several forms of digital banking and financial accounts — from banks with traditional branches, online-only banks, FinTechs, insurance companies and brokerages.

Every interaction a consumer has with each institution has the potential to make or break their trust in it — whether they’re disclosing personal data to complete a transaction more efficiently through a passwordless login or selecting a financial manager.

Consumers’ perception of security measures enhances their trust in their financial institutions (FIs), according to The Passwordless Future, a PYMNTS and Entersekt collaboration that examines responses from more than 2,500 U.S. consumers.

Get the study: The Passwordless Future: Decoding Consumers’ Device-Based Authentication Preferences

Sixty-five percent of consumers said an emphasis on data security had an “extremely or very big impact” on their trust in an institution. Sixty percent said the same about information on how transactions are secured, and 56% said it about having a detailed data protection and privacy statement. PYMNTS found that consumers rated consistent experiences across all platforms to be nearly as important as a sense of data security when influencing their trust in their FIs.

The most common form of authentication method consumers use today is user name and password, with 64% of consumers saying they use that combination to access digital financial services accounts at least once a month. Just over a third use a personal identification number or an email address, and about a quarter use a phone number or a fingerprint scan.

Even though it’s still the most common authentication method, 45% of consumers would be comfortable with login methods that didn’t require a password. In addition, 47% agreed that a password will no longer be used, and 61% would be comfortable with login methods other than a password.