Today in the FintekNews inbox came this wonderful information from JD Power on the state of retail banking for 2017. There is tons of great info in here, both for the banking sector, and for investors in banking equities who want better insight into their bank's status in comparison to others. One fact we found quite interesting is that there is much higher customer satisfaction - still - in visiting a bank branch than transacting through digital channels. Thank God, humans still matter. Other key findings from the survey include the following:

• Rise of retail banking omnivore: More customers than ever are using mobile banking (49% of Millennials, 31% of Gen X and 16% of Boomers). Despite this widespread adoption of the digital channel, 71% of all bank customers visited the branch an average of 14 times over the past year. Among Millennials, 71% used the branch, averaging 11 visits in the past year
• Branches still matter: Across all customers in the study, overall satisfaction among those who visited a bank branch within the past 12 months is 27 index points higher (on a 1,000-point scale) than among those who did not visit a branch (824 vs. 797, respectively). Among Millennials, overall satisfaction among those who used the branch and mobile is 20 index points higher than among those who used the branch only and 37 points higher than among those who used mobile only. Additionally, 78% of new accounts are opened in the branch
• Mobile payments pose disruptive threat: Customer satisfaction, overall brand image and retention metrics are higher among customers who have a mobile payment service linked to their bank account. The trend is most pronounced among the emerging affluent segment of Millennial customers with incomes above $80,000, among whom 64% currently have mobile payment services linked to their accounts.
• Digital problem resolution is key: Unsuccessful problem resolution is highly correlated with low levels of satisfaction and high levels of customer attrition. Overall satisfaction among customers whose problem was not resolved is 564 points. Further, only 20% of these customers say they were likely to reuse that bank. When the problem is resolved, satisfaction scores jump to 812 and loyalty increases to 58%. While the branch has been the traditional channel for handling problems, younger customers prefer to resolve problems online or via social media. Source: JD Power