55% of bank customers want better digital support on web and apps, branches important for KYC, documents: EY report

Banking: 55% of Indian banking customers want improved digital support across the app, web and chatbot, according to an EY report. It further found that branch locations remain important for KYC updates and documentation tasks.

The professional services firm today released its ‘Customer Experience Reimagined: The New Frontier for Indian Banking in 2026’ report, comprising conclusions from a survey of 2,030 bank customers.

“Banks must balance automation with the human touch to maintain empathy, overcome legacy system constraints, scale personalisation, and uphold stringent data privacy standards,” according to Pratik Shah, National Financial Services Leader, EY India.

Aarthy Rangarajan, Partner – Financial Services, EY India added that the report highlights a critical gap: “only 25% of customers rate their overall banking experience as excellent, underscoring a significant opportunity for banks.” According to the report noted, in a market where products and pricing are now baseline expectations, banks must compete on the quality of the customer experience to remain relevant.

What customers think about bank services? Highlights

The survey divided customers that drive the banking business into seven focus groups — the aspiring strivers (age 18-24), rising professionals (18-35), middle-aged entrepreneurs (25-45), mass-affluent urbanites (all ages), rural core (across age groups), golden transitioner (46-59) and empowered urban women (25-45).

Here are the key highlights:

Branch usage preference — As per the report, customers' usage of bank branches varies across segments, but the locations remain important for KYC and documentation tasks.

• Here, only 9% of aspiring strivers frequently visit branches, while rising professionals maintain substantial branch engagement, with 33% in rural, and 37% in urban areas.
• Middle-aged entrepreneurs show even higher branch usage, primarily for cash transactions (68%) and account services (65%), and 52% mass-affluent urbanites rely heavily on branches.

• Among the rural core, 56% visit it for deposits or withdrawals. 34% of golden transitioners in urban areas use bank branches and among empowered women, approximately 45% report frequent branch use.

Onboarding convenience — It noted that 88% of those surveyed find account opening convenient.

• Here, aspiring strivers report lower onboarding convenience at 68%, citing unnecessary branch visits, lengthy processes, and excessive documentation. While rising professionals experience higher onboarding convenience at 89%, however roughly half still switched products in the past year.
• Further, middle-aged entrepreneurs report 91% onboarding convenience, yet 54% switched savings accounts in the last year; and mass-affluent urbanites only 49% could open accounts digitally without visiting a branch.

• In contrast, 84% of the rural core customers found the digital account opening process convenient, and 93% among golden transitioners and 94% women found account opening easy.

Mobile banking satisfaction — The metric highlighted an opportunity for banks to improve conversational AI with greater emotional intelligence as per the EY report. It noted that despite relatively strong mobile adoption, chatbots remain underutilised and less trusted.

• It revealed that 74% aspiring strivers and rising professionals rate mobile banking experience as excellent or good.
• Middle-aged entrepreneurs report 75% satisfaction, while mass-affluent urbanites lead with 79%.

• Around a third of golden transitioners and rural core customers use mobile banking frequently, compared to 54% of women.

Personalization trends — Across segments, the report found customers majority found banks understood their financial needs.

• Here, 74% of rising professionals and 79% of middle-aged entrepreneurs agreed that their banks offer products aligned with their lifestyle and spending habits.
• Similarly, 76% of entrepreneurs and mass-affluent customers feel understood across life stages. Four in five golden transitioners feel their bank delivers personalisation.

• However, 45% women demand better timing of offers, signalling lifecycle-sensitive personalization needs.

AI adoption — It report also noted that AI-driven personalisation is gaining traction.

• Here, 49% of rising professionals and 51% of middle-aged entrepreneurs prioritise smart digital tools such as AI-powered financial advice, automated savings, and budgeting support.
• 73% women are comfortable with AI powered assistants resolving banking queries.
• Rural customers are cautiously open to AI, whereas half of golden transitioners prefer speaking to a real person over AI.