Banking Goes Digital : The Adoption of FinTech Services by German Households

Germany is falling behind its peers in adopting new digital technologies and financial services offered by non-bank high-tech startups (e.g., FinTech). Using survey data, we analyze which FinTech services households are likely to adopt. Our results indicate that a household's level of trust and comfort with new technologies, financial literacy, and overall transparency impact its propensity to switch to a FinTech. Specifically, households with low levels of trust, good financial education, and preference for transparency are characterized by a higher probability of adopting FinTech. In contrast, household price perceptions do not appear to significantly impact switching probability