Underserved consumers are lukewarm about their potential to progress financially: GXS
SINGAPORE, 11 July 2024 – Gig economy workers, entrepreneurs and the next generation of working adults are lukewarm about their potential to progress financially, according to the GXS Progress Quotient 2024.
These individuals are part of a segment that GXS Bank (GXS) defines as financially underserved, given the challenges that they typically face in accessing relevant banking products.
The GXS Progress Quotient 2024 is a survey commissioned by GXS which seeks to understand the relationship that Singapore consumers have with their money and how that affects the way they view their financial progress.
Out of a score of 10, underserved consumers have a GXS Progress Quotient (GPQ) score of 5.1. The GPQ is an index that provides a measurement to track an individual’s perceived potential for progress. It is derived from four metrics:
- An individual’s financial decision-making behaviours
- Their perceived financial progress at present, compared with the past
- Their expected financial progress in the future, compared with the present
- Their emotions when making financial decisions
GXS Group CEO, Mr Muthukrishnan Ramaswami, said, “What is our relationship with money? That’s what we seek to understand to bring better banking to consumers. Through the GXS Progress Quotient 2024, we have a benchmark on how consumers in Singapore relate to their money which we will continue to track in future editions. In our first year, we have already gleaned insights from the research that we are using to shape the GXS experience for our customers, such as using financial literacy to help alleviate the anxiety they may experience in their financial journey. Our hope is that we will be able to play a part, along with like-minded partners and peers, to improve the GPQ score of our customers in the coming years.”
Negative emotions are amplified within the underserved segment
The GXS Progress Quotient 2024 found that respondents in general displayed conflicting emotions in their relationship with money, with stress (32%) and anxiety (27%) sharing the podium with optimism (28%).
These negative emotions are amplified among underserved consumers. In particular, more self-employed individuals such as gig economy workers felt stress (43%) and anxiety (41%) in their relationship with money. Meanwhile, Gen Zs and early-jobbers were less optimistic (23%) about their financial progress compared with the benchmark.
Consumers who are self-employed or early-jobbers also rate access to education (51%), luck (42%) and relevant banking products for them (33%) as the top drivers that can help improve their financial progress.
Ms Char Ong, sales manager for a construction firm and one of the respondents surveyed said that she is lukewarm about her potential to progress financially because of the limited benefits she has experienced with banks.
“With the rate of inflation and the cost of living increasing faster than the rate of my earnings, it’s important to keep pace. To get out of this rat race where we need to keep working just to keep up, banks should think about how they can help their customers grow their passive income.”
Ms Jenn Ong, Head of Retail, GXS, said, “It is not a coincidence that segments which have traditionally been underserved by financial services say that access to financial education and relevant banking products can help them to manage their finances better. While we cannot sway their luck, at GXS we have made it a focus from day one to design banking products that make sense for them, even if it means challenging common market practices such as crediting interest daily on their savings so they can benefit from compounding every single day.”
Survey methodology and scope
The GXS Progress Quotient 2024 surveyed 1,300 Singaporeans and permanent residents aged 15 to 59 in Singapore, of which 300 respondents were early-jobbers under the age of 35, gig economy workers and entrepreneurs to ensure these segments were demographically represented.
Utilising insights from the research findings, the GPQ was developed to measure an individual’s perceived potential for financial progress. The index is a score between 0 to 10, with higher scores indicating greater confidence.
The GXS Progress Quotient 2024 is available at https://www.gxs.com.sg/gxspq2024.
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About GXS Bank
GXS Bank (GXS) is a digital bank with a relentless focus to make banking better for the everyday consumer and small business. This includes Singapore’s underserved individuals and businesses.
The Bank aims to improve financial inclusion and to drive financial revolution for its customers through the secure and ethical use of technology and data.
GXS holds a banking licence issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
It is backed by a consortium consisting of Grab Holdings Inc. – Southeast Asia’s leading super app, and Singtel – Asia’s leading communications technology group. GXS is a separate entity and is not associated with the businesses of Grab Holdings, Singtel and their entities.
For media enquiries, please contact:
comms@gxs.com.sg
GXS Bank to redefine banking services with Singapore’s first digital bank for consumers and businesses
SINGAPORE, 31 August 2022 – GXS Bank (GXS) today launched Singapore’s first digital bank for consumers and businesses. The Bank’s launch product is the GXS Savings Account, which has been designed to ease the pain points that these individuals experience as they save for their dreams.
GXS is backed by a consortium consisting of Grab Holdings (Grab) and Singtel. The Bank aims to revolutionise banking services for its customers by leveraging its technological capabilities and the collective power of the GXS, Grab and Singtel ecosystem.
GXS is also the first digital bank in Singapore to be awarded the Data Protection Trustmark by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), testifying to the Bank’s best-in-class data protection practices to keep customers’ personal data safe and secure.
A bank that challenges banking conventions
To uplift basic banking standards in Singapore, GXS’ beach head strategy is providing a banking experience that addresses the pain points of Singapore’s underserved segment, such as the two in five adults who are underbanked.
Charles Wong, Singapore CEO of GXS, said, “GXS is a homegrown bank on a mission to support the needs of the entrepreneurs, gig economy workers and early-jobbers in our community. To start, we are challenging the notion of what a basic savings account could do to support their goals and dreams.
Over the coming months, we will also tackle other obstacles that hinder consumers and small businesses from reaching their goals sooner, such as growing their wealth or accessing credit.”
A savings account that raises the bar
GXS’ first financial product is the GXS Savings Account, which is designed to address the gaps that hinder consumers such as those who are gig economy workers, self-employed entrepreneurs and early-jobbers from reaching their saving goals.
For example, given that cash flow is important for this group of individuals, the GXS Savings Account enables them to earn interest daily. GXS Savings Account-holders also do not need to worry about being penalised with fees should they need to withdraw their savings as there is no minimum balance requirement.
The GXS Savings Account is also designed to encourage customers to stay disciplined with their savings without the hassle and stress that may be associated with this activity.
Understanding that consumers in Singapore have the habit of allocating different pockets of funds for different goals, GXS has an intuitive feature within its Savings Account known as Saving Pockets that enables customers to do just that.
In designing Pockets, GXS incorporated techniques such as visualisation and smart nudges to help its customers develop and sustain a habit of saving.
For example, saving is no longer just setting money aside in an account with a string of numbers. Instead, GXS customers can customise their Pockets to make saving for their dreams personable. In addition to naming their Pockets, customers can choose to tag their Pockets to any photo which resonates with their goals.
To help them stay on track with their saving habit, GXS also sends timely nudges to customers, such as encouraging them to top up their Pockets when they’re close to their goals or cheering them on the progress they have made.
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A Gen Z bank that is born to grow with customers in the digital age
A digital native, GXS is built to stay nimble and agile alongside customers as their needs change over time and their expectations are continually shaped by technology.
For example, GXS has built a data infrastructure that enables the Bank to analyse the data swiftly in order to generate extensive and meaningful insights. GXS uses these insights to develop, refine and iterate new features, services and conversations that matter to its customers.
“GXS is uniquely positioned to learn and to refine the banking experience so that it is extremely personalised and relevant to customers because we are part of a powerhouse ecosystem that includes Grab and Singtel. Their platforms are used daily by more than three million Singaporeans. The frequent interactions between consumers and the platforms within our ecosystem provide us with deeper and sharper insights on what our customers need and how we can serve them seamlessly across all touchpoints within our ecosystem,” Mr Wong said.
As customers continue to make transactions and interact within the ecosystem, GXS is able to understand their banking needs more deeply and offer them hyper-personalised support.
GXS’ digital bank app will be available in Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store from 5 September 2022. The Bank’s services will be rolled out progressively to consumers thereafter, starting with selected employees and underbanked customers within the GXS, Grab and Singtel ecosystem.
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About GXS Bank
GXS Bank (GXS) is a digital bank with a relentless focus to make banking better for the everyday consumer and small business. This includes Singapore’s underserved individuals and businesses.
The Bank aims to improve financial inclusion and to drive financial revolution for its customers through the secure and ethical use of technology and data.
GXS holds a banking licence issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. It is backed by a consortium consisting of Grab Holdings Inc. – Southeast Asia’s leading super app, and Singtel – Asia’s leading communications technology group.
For media enquiries, please contact:
