Two-thirds (64%) of the respondents to an iSense Solutions study said they would want more digitized banks in Romania, while 44% of them said they would give up the services of a traditional bank in favor of an exclusively digital bank.

The study also revealed that 68% of urban Romanians would have more confidence in digital banks if they were under the umbrella of a traditional bank.

The study was carried out online, its results being based on the answers of 990 Romanians aged over 18 who live in urban areas. Besides checking the Romanians’ openness to modern banking services, the initiators of the study also wanted to see how many Romanians know and use Revolut, a digital banking service launched in Romania this year.

The results of the study showed that 11% of Romanians have heard of Revolut. Of the Romanians who use Revolut, most of them (36%) used it in other countries, a third (33%) used it to make currency exchange, 30% used it for card payments in traditional stores, and 24% used it for money transfers and online payments with physical card, but also for savings through Vaults.

Although half (52%) of the urban population said they would use Revolut (after finding out what this service means), the iSense Solutions study also identified a number of barriers that Romanians have in relation to this application. When it comes to payments and transactions, most of respondents said they are reluctant when it comes to making transactions through Revolut's service, for various reasons. For example, 53% would not use this digital service because they are happy with the services the bank offers today. Meanwhile, almost a quarter (24%) of the respondents claimed they did not trust the support offered exclusively online, and 14% said they did not have enough trust in the company.

On the other hand, most of the Romanians who said they would use Revolut would do so due to the possibility of using the international card (62%) and the lower commissions (61%).

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com