The role of Neobanks and FinTech in sustainable finance and technology. The customer/user perspective for entrepreneurs

The emergence of neobanks is considered a change in the current banking model and has caused a change in consumer expectations regarding their financial experience and sustainable technology. This research analyzes users feelings, words and opinions about neobanks, and determines the critical factors of these financial consumers. The objective of this research is to analyze how technology app in the banking sector has affected the consumer experience. The emergence of FinTech and neobanks has altered the traditional banking market worldwide, with new exclusively digital financial operators in full expansion. A sample of all online reviews (n = 56,474) published in Google Play of three FinTech apps N26, Revolut, and Wise selected from and Sensor Tower. It’s were analyzed using text mining, particularly sentiment analysis and topic modelling (LDA). Exactly, the reviews were scraped in during one weeks from January 2024.

The results of our analysis reveal that neobanks are working exponentially among the young public, while older users still have barriers to their usability, such as cybersecurity or the limited generation of trust.

This work contributes to the existing academic literature on FinTech and neobanks with a validated method of measuring customer experience. This work contributes to practical implications, understanding the transformation of banking through fintech and neobanks, with a focus on customer experience and sentiment analysis. Additionally, the theoretical implications of the manuscript align existing literature on the importance of technology and customer-centric approaches, but offer nuanced insights into the specific factors driving customer adoption and the challenges faced by neobanks.