The bet is on the future, said Judy Hicks, a vice president and consumer loan manager at Baker Boyer National Bank in Walla Walla, Washington. “We have to stay competitive with products and services. We want to bank that younger generation, because they’re going to get there someday.”
But David Pommerehn, senior counsel and vice president of the Consumer Banking Association, which represents the retail operations of larger banks, said the generation’s willingness to research and switch financial institutions again and again was a positive for his group’s companies. Members of the “ease of banking” cohort, he said, “are not particularly invested in one particular institution at this point” and still willing to learn about what the big banks have to offer as they grow older, and wealthier.
At Bank of America Corp., spokeswoman Anne Pace said the strategy is “to move away from gotcha fees” and introduce new packages with transparent pricing, such as the safe-balance account option that covers overdrafts. It costs $4.95 a month.
High turnover in the age group is to be expected, as people leave college, age out of student accounts, move for job opportunities and start families. Millennials, now numbering 83.1 million people, have surpassed baby boomers as the largest portion of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2017, they’ll attain more spending power than any other generation.
The banks that win the loyalty of the millennials now could keep it, Hicks said. “If you have good customer service, the customer will stay with you. ”