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US banks are enhancing their checking accounts with incentives, like streaming service subscriptions, to stand out as more consumers put their money into savings and money market accounts, per The Wall Street Journal.
Business Insider IntelligenceCitigroup, for example, is piloting a checking account feature that gives customers a $200 annual rebate if they use their Citigold debit card to pay for services from select retail partners - which customers could put toward an annual subscription to Amazon Prime, Hulu, Spotify, or others.
Here's what it means: Banks are using incentives as a means of driving volume amid slowing customer deposits.
The bigger picture: Offering popular incentives could help banks retain customers and drive deposits, but it will only be a winning strategy if done in tandem with digital banking improvements.Banks should continue to prioritize their mobile banking app features, while enhancing their checking account offerings. Banks should not only offer subscription incentives with their accounts, but also enable consumers to manage all of their digital subscriptions through their mobile banking apps.
Such a feature is in demand but not commonly offered yet: 59% of mobile banking users who responded to Business Insider Intelligence's Mobile Banking Competitive Edge Study (Enterprise only) said the ability to cancel subscription digital media services within their mobile banking app is "very" or "extremely" valuable, but none of the largest 20 US banks surveyed support the capability.
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