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But you don't necessarily need a banking license, right? My understanding is that there's a handful of bank-as-a-service banks that have a license and will let

But you don't necessarily need a banking license, right? My understanding is that there's a handful of bank-as-a-service banks that have a license and will let you do your thing. I'm sure the aging population doesn't help, but to me the primary inertia comes from how difficult it is to switch. You can take your phone number with you while changing providers, you can't do that with your bank account. They have "services" that are supposed to handle that, but having dealt with their investment arms and moving a broker account from one bank to another, I wouldn't trust them to not mess it up, and suddenly my rent isn't getting paid. So I'd have to do it myself, which will make me deal with lots of stupid systems and processes and cost a hours upon hours. I'd need to save 100% of my banking fees (which are way too high) for a decade or two to make that worthwhile. Make switching banks as easy as switching phone providers and you'll get some competition going.

okanat 2y ago
To be honest, in Germany even the brick and mortar banks provide transfer services. They will detect and move your automatic payments. You usually fill a form, login to each bank and they send automatic requests to move stuff. Similarly my broker also supports moving accounts for me. Moreover, especially after the Wirecard scandal, I wouldn't trust any company that doesn't have a banking license. Without a banking license they can nuke my entire account and I will be the only responsible idiot for that. Btw, the US system is exploitative and decades behind what the worst European countries have. NFC payments became a thing after Apple brought them to the US. Europeans, heck, Middle Eastern countries were already using NFC EMV payments for 5 years by then. The technologically best and most trustworthy banks are usually from Northwestern Europe so look for Nordics and the Netherlands, if you would like to see a modern but not totally exploitative banking looks like.
- luckylion 2y ago
  Yes, they do offer transfer services. But do you trust their services to be flawless? Like I mentioned, I've dealt with their brokerage-arms, and it was a disaster. Numbers being wrong between two large banks, the transfer taking _months_, and nobody knowing anything and everybody shrugging their shoulders and going "maybe call the other guys again?" They have no incentive to make that seamless (in fact, they have every incentive to not make it seamless), and it isn't. The same isn't true with your phone number. Once you've moved, it just works. You never have to tell anyone you're switching providers. The old provider is out of the picture and you no longer need to rely on their good will after your business relationship ends.

okanat 2y ago

To be honest, in Germany even the brick and mortar banks provide transfer services. They will detect and move your automatic payments. You usually fill a form, login to each bank and they send automatic requests to move stuff. Similarly my broker also supports moving accounts for me. Moreover, especially after the Wirecard scandal, I wouldn't trust any company that doesn't have a banking license. Without a banking license they can nuke my entire account and I will be the only responsible idiot for that. Btw, the US system is exploitative and decades behind what the worst European countries have. NFC payments became a thing after Apple brought them to the US. Europeans, heck, Middle Eastern countries were already using NFC EMV payments for 5 years by then. The technologically best and most trustworthy banks are usually from Northwestern Europe so look for Nordics and the Netherlands, if you would like to see a modern but not totally exploitative banking looks like.

luckylion 2y ago
Yes, they do offer transfer services. But do you trust their services to be flawless? Like I mentioned, I've dealt with their brokerage-arms, and it was a disaster. Numbers being wrong between two large banks, the transfer taking _months_, and nobody knowing anything and everybody shrugging their shoulders and going "maybe call the other guys again?" They have no incentive to make that seamless (in fact, they have every incentive to not make it seamless), and it isn't. The same isn't true with your phone number. Once you've moved, it just works. You never have to tell anyone you're switching providers. The old provider is out of the picture and you no longer need to rely on their good will after your business relationship ends.