Are you ready to start banking with Amazon?


Banks may now want to keep a watchful eye out for Amazon.
In a new survey of 6,000 U.S. customers by Bain & Company, 65 percent of Amazon Prime customers said they would try a free online bank account offered by Amazon that offered 2 percent cash back on Amazon purchases. In March, The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon was toying with the idea of partnering with banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. to create a "checking account-like product" for customers.
Bain's new survey, conducted in collaboration with Research Now, shows where consumer loyalty lies by evaluating customers' ties to Amazon versus traditional banks. The survey measured how likely respondents were to recommend a company to a friend or relative and assigned a corresponding "loyalty score" to each contender. Amazon out-ranked regional and national banks with a score of 47, Bain found, as opposed to 31 and 18, respectively. The military-focused United Services Automobile Association was the top financial service, with a score of 79.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"The big banks have absolutely woken up to this threat," Gerard du Toit, a Bain partner and co-author of the report, told CNBC. "They're very focused on Amazon-proofing their business because they recognize that it's big tech, not the other banks or fin-tech startups, that's the real competition." By entering the banking world, Amazon would save on credit card processing fees merchants owe to card-issuing banks, as well as have access to records of what their customers purchase even outside of Amazon's virtual walls, per Bain — upping their cache of valuable consumer data.
Interest isn't limited to Amazon customers, either. Thirty-seven percent of respondents who don’t currently use Amazon services were willing to give Amazon banking a try, per the study. See more results at Bain & Company.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Taylor Watson is audience engagement editor for TheWeek.com and a former editorial assistant. She graduated from Syracuse University, with a major in magazine journalism and minors in food studies and nutrition. Taylor has previously written for Runner's World, Vice, and more.
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliable
speed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutiny
Speed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures