7 In 10 Indian Consumers Ready to Share Personal Data with Banks & Insurers in Exchange for Lower Pricing: Accenture

Privacy may still be of paramount importance for a significant majority of Indian consumers, but if products and services are on offer on lower pricing, consumers don’t mind sharing significant personal information with banks and insurers. Little wonder, therefore, that almost seven in ten consumers in India would be willing to share significant personal information, such as location data and lifestyle information, with their bank and insurer to avail of lower pricing on products and services. That’s what a new report from the NYSE-listed Accenture suggested.

Accenture’s global Financial Services Consumer Study, which was based on a survey of 47,000 consumers in 28 markets, including 2,000 consumers in India, found that more than two-thirds of Indian consumers were willing to share that data for benefits like more-rapid loan approvals, discounts on gym memberships and personalized offers based on current location.

The readiness of the Indian consumers to share personal information selectively notwithstanding, the majority of the people/consumers still believe that privacy is paramount, with nearly four out of five consumers (81 percent) saying that they are extremely cautious about the privacy of their personal information. In fact, data security breaches were the second-biggest concern for consumers in India, behind only feeling like their complaints are not dealt with in an acceptable manner, when they were asked what would make them leave their bank or insurer.

“There’s a growing appetite for personalization of products and services based on targeted consumer financial data. The growing willingness of an increasing number of people to share more of their personal data for more efficient services at better prices underscore the role of digital technologies in the distribution of financial services in India. At the same time, there’s also growing concern about the safeguarding of this data, so financial institutions need to make that a top priority as they look to address their customers’ evolving needs. If consumers don’t see the level of personalization, offers and products they want from their banks or insurers, they will certainly look for it elsewhere,” said Rishi Aurora, a managing director at Accenture, who leads its Financial Services practice in India.

Interestingly, the appetite for sharing significant personal data with financial firms was high in China and India, with 67 percent and 69 percent of consumers respectively willing to share more data for personalized services. That rate was even higher in Southeast Asia, with 81 percent of respondents in Indonesia and 74 percent in Thailand saying the same. Half (50 percent) of consumers in the US and only 42 percent in Australia said they were willing to share more data for personalized services, and in Europe, where the General Data Protection Regulation was put to effect in May, consumers were more skeptical. Just to give an example, only 40 percent of consumers in the UK and Germany said that they would be willing to share more data with banks and insurers in return for personalized services.

When it comes to India, there’s strong evidence that consumers in India are willing to share significant personal data to improve their lives and get very targeted services and offers, said Piyush Singh, another managing director at Accenture, who leads its Financial Services practice in Asia-Pacific and Africa. He said that there’s an ocean of opportunities emerging with data analytics and personalization, but banks and insurers also need to pay close attention to growing concerns about data privacy and security and make that a top priority as they invest in new technologies and digital services.

Indian consumers showed strong support for personalized insurance premiums, with 76 percent interested in receiving adjusted car insurance premiums based on safe driving and 69 percent in exchange for life insurance premiums attached to a healthy lifestyle. The vast majority of consumers (92 percent) would provide personal data, including income, location and lifestyle habits, to their insurer if they believe it would help reduce the possibility of injury or loss.

In banking, 93 percent of consumers would be willing to share income, location and lifestyle habit data for rapid loan approval, and 91 percent would do so to get personalized offers based on their location, such as discounts from a retailer and so on. Nearly three-quarters (76 percent) of consumers want their bank to provide updates on how much money they have until their next payday, with the same rate of respondents (76 percent) wanting savings tips based on their spending habits.

Accenture conducted this online survey during May-June, 2018, among as many as 47,000 respondents across 28 markets: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands, Chile, China and Hong Kong (SAR), Colombia, France, Finland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.