Metaverse: 2022 Banking Industry Survey

The 2022 KPMG State of Banking Survey features insights from 100 senior executives. This article shares the findings related to the metaverse.

Metaverse: A world of promise…but it might take awhile.

Our recent experiences with banking executives tell us that some may initially view banking in the metaverse as an abstract concept, much as many bankers once viewed the commercial applications of the internet in the mid-1990s.

But, just as no business would dare not have a web presence now, bank executives today also instinctively recognize the metaverse as a valuable and compelling component of the future of financial services.

Our survey results underscore that bank executives understand that keeping an open mind about how to incorporate banking in the metaverse and being flexible and adaptable in how they launch their metaverse initiatives will be essential parts of their future growth and customer-service strategy. Many banking executives want to be among the first to get in the space and become leaders. A number of innovative banks have already established an initial presence and many more have announced their intentions to enter in the near future.

David Pessah, senior director at the KPMG Innovation Lab, has met with numerous bank executives who view the metaverse as a powerful new tool that can provide banking products and services in an innovative fashion.

Even more important, Pessah said, is that these executives realize that the metaverse presents a tool that will allow banks to tap much deeper into an expanding “digital-native generation” market segment that represents enormous potential for future business growth and profitability.

Action steps

At the moment, metaverse activities resemble marketing and branding initiatives rather than a significant amount of actual banking transactions – although real people are spending real money for virtual products in the virtual world.

Still, getting a foot in the door now will go a long way toward achieving two objectives:

1. Convincing the emerging generation that banks are serious about selling banking products and services in a virtual world.
2. Catering to other generations who want to interact with banks in a manner that suits their preferences and lifestyles.

The quicker that a broad segment of banking executives accept that “virtual is normal” the better.