For today’s young adults, managing finances is more than just a task—it’s a source of anxiety in an uncertain world. The complexity of financial products and economic challenges only heighten their sense of insecurity.

But how does this reality look on a global scale, especially among Gen Z and Millennials, and how can brands match their needs? 

One of our analysis included over 6,200 social media conversations, revealing that economic and social challenges are top concerns. Even so, young people aren’t just passive observers. A recent survey shows they demand transparency, simplicity, and digital innovation from their financial partners. Overall, we analysed nearly 40 M social conversations.

This paper delves into these insights, uncovering the key drivers behind Millennials’ and Gen Z’s financial decisions and highlighting opportunities for the industry.

In collaboration with Capture Intelligence, SAMY Alliance conducted an in-depth Social Listening study to explore young consumers’ sentiments toward traditional and digital banking. By combining this with desk research and conversation analysis, we identified key services and offerings that address the pain points of younger financial users.

  • Over 39M of social media conversation analysed
  • 42 External sources consulted
  • Top Tier Banks representatives and financial advisors interviews

Our goal was to uncover the insights that could help financial institutions build stronger, more empathetic connections with today’s discerning young consumers—a crucial need given the historically low satisfaction in the banking sector, with only 6 out of 19 banks scoring over 50 NPS in 2023.

What will you find in this report?

Financial Power

Among all the financial challenges facing the younger generation, our analysis points to two main obstacles: declining purchasing power around the world, and costs of living, such as rental and home ownership costs.

To grasp the differences among them, we also ran this analysis separately through Europe and Latin America.

The User POV: a social listening

We conducted a social listening to understand the positive and negative conversation around digital and traditional banking services; with nearly 40M conversations, we highlighted the best and worst characteristics of each type of bank, according to the most mentioned topics, and correlated them with an action banking and financial industries can implement to meet their users’ needs. 

 

The User POV: results and relevance

According to the investigation, the main characteristics perceived by customers and highlighted on the conversations are: 

  • 13% – Credit offerings and transparency
  • 32% – Customer experience
  • 28% – Education and investments
  • 27% – Mobile banking and accessibility

Conclusions: enemy to lovers

All the answers to the “how”:

  1. How to roll with digital natives and their digital expectations
  2. How to match empathy with commercial actions
  3. How to get closer with social listening

It’s not just about improving NPS—it’s about forging connections rooted in trust and genuine care for customers’ well-being.

“In the past 10 years, user activity has centralized in apps, with the key difference among top competitors being digitalization and ease of service. Fintechs, focused on the consumer, are gaining ground with personalization, early education, and attractive benefits, while traditional banks hold an advantage in the breadth of products. However, they face the challenge of simplifying financial communication and humanizing their brands.”

 

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About CAPTURE INTELLIGENCE & this paper

SETTING THE SCENE

Generation Z, born between the late 1990s and 1990s to the mid-2010s, is redefining the market. They are digital natives and strong voices on social channels. For brands, understanding their priorities and behaviours is essential for brands.

APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY

At Capture, we decided to conduct a study that delves into what Z’s are really like in Z’s are really like in Latin America, considering unique and socio-economic factors.

We used a combination of in and social intelligence, supported by machine learning machine learning and NLP tools such as ParseR, to gain an accurate and detailed and detailed view of this generation.

ABOUT US

We are a global language analytics agency. Our end-to-end solutions enable us to listen to what’s out there, digest and interpret insights, and use our learnings to empower your business decisions in 10 native languages.

Whether that’s on social, through forums, or customers’ feedback. There’s always a voice to be heard, an audience for you to connect with, and something new to learn about them. Because when you listen, you give your brand the best chance of success.

Find more about us and our tools in captureintelligence.com