Cornerstone Advisors 2025 Digital Banking Performance Metrics: Our top 5 takeaways for banks and credit unions

1. Digital spending led to uniformity

After three years of double-digit percentage growth, average digital spending fell by ~30% in 2024.

• 2023: $779K per $1 billion in assets
• 2024: $551K per $1 billion in assets

What did all of the spending buy? Parity. Community banks and credit unions are drowning in a sea of sameness:

• ~90% offer card management controls
• ~75% enable travel notifications
• ~70% provide PFM, bill pay management, credit monitoring, and savings goal-setting.

The opportunity: Just 16% offer subscription management (poised to double by year-end).

Our take: Institutions should dare to be different!

Institutions dumped big investments into digital, but to what end? It didn't drive differentiation. Accenture reported that top banks' mobile app ratings are consistently above 4.5/5. It's tough to carve out a superior position when everyone makes the same moves. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, and they crave financial guidance. Community banks and credit unions should invest in tools that help people save more and spend less.

2. Digital applications need an overhaul

The percentage of digital checking account openings grew 31% year-over-year, but don’t get too excited.

• A measly 20% of checking accounts were originated online.
• Digital loan applications remained flat. (41% of the total)
• The average digital application abandonment rate more than doubled year-over-year. (to 67%)

Our take: Friction kills profits. Invest in simple experiences.

As an industry, we can do better. Let's take a cue from the simple experiences Neobanks offer. They make it easy to get started—opening an account usually takes just a few minutes online. No paperwork, no branch visits, no hassle. While traditional institutions might still rely on in-person appointments and forms, Neobanks use digital tools to speed things up.

3. Neobanks capture new checking accounts with unique products

For four straight years, Neobanks have been winning the new checking account game, and they held strong in 2024. Regional banks outperformed Megabanks for the past two years, and community institutions continue to lag way behind.
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Share of 2024 new checking account openings:

• Neobanks: 44%
• Regional Bank: 23%
• Megabank: 20%
• Credit Unions: 5%
• Community Bank: 4%

Community banks and credit unions have a product problem. Megabanks and Neobanks don’t just have speedy account opening; they have designed better products.

Examples:

• Fintechs like Chime, Dave, and MoneyLion offer new customers a “line of credit.”
• Open a new checking account and a brokerage account at JPMorgan Chase, and you get $900.

Our take: Invest in better onboarding instead of cash bribes

We wouldn't give Chase that much credit. If you have to bribe people to adopt your products, you have a product problem, too. Instead of offering someone hundreds of dollars to use your products and services, invest in better onboarding!