US banks are weird [1]. Archaic. Slow. Filthy rich. Incompetent. And yet they're nearly impossible to disrupt due to the benefit of size. Starting a new bank is expensive, unless you want to pretend at being a real bank and letting another bank handling all of the nitty-gritty details. In which case you've now become a reseller of that bank, and will likely be even worse.
The only thing that can disrupt US banks is consumer outrage, of which there seems to be very little.
[1] Source: I've consulted for some of the largest US, European and African banks.
What about Japanese banks? They have a reputation of being terrible, justified for the little experience I had with them.
Lots of fees, bureaucratic, inconvenient opening times,...
In Japan, cash is king, and loan sharking is very prevalent. Not a very good sign for the banking system.
Note that it is now becoming increasingly possible to go cashless, though cash is still the most widely accepted option. And I think it is mostly thanks to foreign banks like Citibank.
How are they incompetent? My boring old bank has never lost my money, it sends out bill payments on time. Those are the main things I ask for it to do, and it has done them competently for decades.
As far as I can see, none of the fintech/web3/crypto-nonsense companies can be trusted to do those things well.
I would hope so. I certainly do. In 25 years of using them, I have never had a conventionally regulated financial institution (NCUA-insured credit union, FDIC-insured bank) lose so much as a penny. Whether they are keeping proper reserves is another question entirely, but also not really my problem (NCUA and FDIC exist for a reason).
I don’t see what more US banks could do. I have been transferring money instantly to people online for over a decade for free. They have websites/apps, I can withdraw paper money around the world, what other utility could a “bank” provide me?
They are utilities that keep a database associating account number and dollar number.
I earn a few thousand dollars from them every year in the form of sign up bonuses, and I have never spent a dime in fees for having an account or transferring money.
If the US government offered a more protected way of saving money not subject to know-your-customer-revoke-access-to-your-property-at-anytime-under-the-guise-of-potential-criminal-activity laws, then I would use them.
US banks do pay interest. If you're not earning at least US federal funds rate minus ~50bps, that's on you for not choosing to spend 5 min to open a bank account.
They suck, pay no interest and charge the same high fees. The best alternative is investment brokerage cash accounts. They pay interest, allow you to buy short term treasuries with savings and provide checking/debt cards
I don’t know if it counts as disruption exchanging one behemoth for another but my life got a lot better when I started using a Fidelity cash management account as my bank.
The only thing that can disrupt US banks is consumer outrage, of which there seems to be very little.
[1] Source: I've consulted for some of the largest US, European and African banks.