Generation Z is changing the securities business faster than many traditional banks can respond. Young investors expect simple apps, low-cost savings plans and clear financial information where they already spend their time: on their smartphones. For savings banks, branch-based institutions and traditional brokers, this is becoming a crucial question of future relevance.
Young investors invest differently
Generation Z hardly separates financial decisions from everyday digital life. Anyone who grew up with streaming services, social media and mobile banking also expects investing to be simple, low-cost and easy to understand. Opening a brokerage account should take only a few minutes, setting up a savings plan should work on a smartphone, and financial information should be available in a format that matches young people’s attention habits.
This benefits neobrokers such as Trade Republic, Scalable Capital and Revolut. They combine low fees with an app-based logic that feels more like digital consumer services than traditional bank advice. For established institutions, this is uncomfortable because they are not only losing individual products, but also the first point of contact with the next generation of investors.
The brokerage boom is bypassing branch banks
Germany’s securities market is growing strongly overall. At the end of 2025, private households held around 37.2 million brokerage accounts. But this growth is not evenly distributed. Digital providers increased their number of accounts from 14.0 million to 16.2 million, a rise of 15.2 percent.
The share among young investors is particularly striking. Among account holders under the age of 29, almost every second to third investor already uses a neobroker, according to the cited analysis; in total, the figure is around 59 percent.
This shifts power in the securities business. In the past, the main bank was often the natural starting point for a current account, savings account, loan and later also an investment account. Today, investment decisions are shaped by search engines, comparison portals, TikTok, YouTube, finance newsletters, communities and recommendations from friends. The bank brand alone carries less weight than it used to.
The problem for savings banks is structural
For savings banks and other branch-based institutions, this development is particularly delicate. They still benefit from trust, regional proximity and advisory expertise. But these strengths do not automatically convince young self-directed investors. Anyone who first sets up an ETF savings plan through a neobroker app does not necessarily build their investment relationship with their local bank.
Demographic pressure adds to the problem. According to Focus, a PwC study suggests that savings banks could lose an average of 12 percent of their customer base by 2045. Some institutions could even face losses of up to 30 percent. If young customer groups increasingly move to digital competitors at the same time, banks face a double problem: their core customer base is ageing, while the next generation is building wealth elsewhere.
A better app will not be enough
The obvious answer for traditional banks is digitalisation. But a modernised app alone will hardly be sufficient. Young investors expect simple products, transparent costs, mobile usability, fast account opening and understandable financial education directly within the user experience.
Language also matters. Banks that want to reach young customers need to explain financial topics without bureaucratic wording and without sales pressure. Neobrokers benefit from the fact that they do not feel like bank branches, but like digital tools. That is exactly what makes them attractive to beginners.
At the same time, advice is not becoming irrelevant. In areas such as mortgages, retirement planning, larger wealth decisions or more complex financial questions, traditional banks can still score points. But this advice must be clearly recognisable as a high-quality added value and must not feel like an attempt to sell a more expensive standard product.
Banks are losing not only customers, but habits
The real shift runs deeper than fees or app design. Generation Z is forming its financial habits outside traditional banking structures. Anyone who opens their first brokerage account with a neobroker, learns about their first ETF through social media and makes their first investment decision in an app will not automatically return to a branch bank later.
For banks, the challenge is therefore not only to win young customers back. They must prevent themselves from becoming irrelevant in the wealth-building journey of an entire generation. The brokerage boom is good news for Germany. For traditional banks, however, it will only become an opportunity if they do not leave it entirely to digital competitors.
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