Number of Banks that Offer Crypto Services will Double in 2022, New Research

American Banker issued its most recent batch of predictions for 2022 and its survey of 175 top banking executives from regional and global financial institutions had some surprising results. Before we look at the research details, It’s worth noting that American Banker magazine is highly regarded as a credible source of content relating to banking regulation, technology, and innovation. 

Here are the key findings from the survey: 

• 44% of banking execs expect to offer some form of crypto support to clients by the end of this year.  
• That is more than twice the number who offered those services in 2021.
• 60% of surveyed wealth management advisors expect that their clients will increase crypto holdings or start investing in those digital assets in 2022.
• A third of wealth managers expect to actively manage their client’s crypto portfolio, up from 13% who currently provide that service.

Interestingly, the research found that banking executives believe that how consumers transfer their money and the various payment options at their disposal will be a key focus this year as well. It’s no secret to anyone that banks aggressively compete to keep their customers and gain more of their “wallet share” by providing different types of services. 

Those services include auto bill payments, direct deposits, low cost fund transfers, and bank-branded debit or credit cards. Not only can crypto projects do all of those services automatically, and cheaper than banks right now, blockchain-based funds transfers have settlements that occur in seconds not days. 

Additionally, there are several credit cards that provide crypto rewards as a percentage of the card balance in the user’s preferred cryptocurrency. Banks that adopt just a few of those offerings will clearly differentiate themselves from competitors – and the survey results show that banks are scrounging for competitive advantages.

While no one can predict the future of any financial activities, the fact that global banks and lending institutions are seriously considering expanding their cryptocurrency and blockchain options this year can’t be ignored. Adoption of digital currencies by large financial interests would create a bright future for cryptos.