Almost half UK millennials want to do their financial planning on a smartphone

The trend poses significant challenges to financial advisers and high street banks who have traditionally delivered their services face-to-face, according to a new report

‘Generation App’ millennials, aged between 18 and 35, are nearly twice as likely to use mobile phones than older generations (iStock-Ridofranz )

Almost half of UK millennials want to do their financial planning on a smartphone, a trend that poses significant challenges to financial advisers and high street banks who have traditionally delivered their services face-to-face, according to a new report.

‘Generation App’ millennials, aged between 18 and 35, are nearly twice as likely to use mobile phones than older generations, according to a survey by Legg Mason, a global asset management firm. The study found that 93 per cent of millennials use their mobiles to access the internet, compared to 52 per cent of baby boomers, or those aged between 53 and 71.

The rising popularity of smartphones among younger generations means ways of engaging with financial services are changing rapidly. A total of 46 per cent of UK millennials are keen to use their smartphones to do all their financial planning – which is the highest in Europe, according to Legg Mason.

By contrast, just 13 per cent of baby boomers feel comfortable with such an approach.

The survey took is based on responses from 15,300 people worldwide. It showed that worldwide, 47 per cent of all millennials are keen to do all their financial planning on their mobiles, compared to 22 per cent of all baby boomers.

Justin Ede, head of distribution for Europe and the Americas at Legg Mason, said: “Services that have traditionally always been delivered face-to-face are now becoming automated, and the use of smartphones for financial planning is another step in that direction. Indeed these statistics reveal the extent to which the demand for fully digital solutions is growing among the younger generation and it will be interesting to see how financial services businesses respond to the challenges this presents.”

But despite showing a preference for digital services, only 16 per cent of UK respondents said they were in favour of either technology-only financial planning which has no human interaction, or a solution that is technology-led but has some human interaction supporting it.

In September last year, a study by professional services firm Deloitte showed that young UK adults were becoming increasingly addicted to their smartphones, with half of 18-24 year olds admitting that they check their phones in the middle of the night.