As the neobanking landscape continues to evolve, trust remains a decisive factor in determining the success of financial institutions. Neobanks, with their innovative digital-first approach, have been gaining traction, but they still face challenges in building trust with their customers. Are neobanks gaining or losing user trust compared to traditional banks?

In this blog post, we analyze trust levels in the top neobanks—Revolut, Upgrade, Chime, Koho, and Wise—and compare them with leading traditional banks—Citi Bank, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, and Wells Fargo. Our analysis is based on insights from the US Neobanks oCX Report, using Google Play Store and App Store user review data, complemented by oCX scores. We explore how these neobanks are working to bridge the trust gap and compete with established financial institutions.

Methodology:

To assess trust in neobanks and traditional banks, we leveraged Observational Customer Experience (oCX), an AI-powered tool that analyzes real-time customer feedback across multiple sources, including reviews, social media posts, complaints, and chat interactions. Unlike traditional surveys, which can introduce biases and incomplete insights, oCX converts unstructured text into a quantifiable metric using advanced AI algorithms. We specifically analyzed customer reviews that contained the emotion “Trust” as identified by our AI, ensuring that both positive and negative reviews were evaluated objectively. Regardless of whether a review expressed trust in a favorable or critical way, we assigned it a trust oCX score, providing a data-driven perspective on how trust in neobanks and traditional banks is evolving.

The Trust Landscape: Traditional Banks vs. Neobanks

Trust is a critical factor in banking, influencing customer retention, brand loyalty, and overall satisfaction. Based on trust oCX scores and sentiment analysis, traditional banks continue to maintain a stronger trust perception compared to neobanks. The average oCX score for all neobanks is 74, while the average oCX score for traditional banks is 87, highlighting the ongoing trust gap between the two.

Trust oCX Comparison: Traditional Banks vs. Neobanks

The trust oCX scores presented in the chart illustrate the consistent advantage that traditional banks hold. While neobanks improved their trust scores over time, the gap remained, and by the end of the period, traditional banks once again widened their lead. This suggests that while neobanks are making progress in gaining user trust, traditional banks continue to be perceived as more stable, secure, and dependable.

In the charts below, the oCX scores are based on customer reviews that specifically contained the emotion “Trust,” as identified by our AI. We carefully analyzed both positive and negative reviews to evaluate trust sentiment objectively, ensuring that the analysis reflects genuine customer perceptions.

For neobanks to close the trust gap, addressing customer support concerns, maintaining service reliability, and offering enhanced security measures will be essential.

Trust oCX Comparison: Traditional Banks vs. Neobanks

The trust oCX scores presented in the chart illustrate the consistent advantage that traditional banks hold. While neobanks improved their trust scores over time, the gap remained, and by the end of the period, traditional banks once again widened their lead. This suggests that while neobanks are making progress in gaining user trust, traditional banks continue to be perceived as more stable, secure, and dependable.

For neobanks to close the trust gap, addressing customer support concerns, maintaining service reliability, and offering enhanced security measures will be essential.

The Rise of Top-Performing Neobanks: Closing the Trust Gap?

While neobanks as a whole still lag behind traditional banks in trust perception, a select group of top-performing neobanks has significantly narrowed the gap. As seen in the chart, when comparing the Top 5 Neobanks—Revolut, Upgrade, Chime, Koho, and Wise—to leading traditional banks (Citi Bank, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, and Wells Fargo), the trust oCX scores are much closer, suggesting that some digital banks are making notable progress in building user trust.

How Top Neobanks Are Gaining Trust

• The Top 5 Neobanks maintain consistently high trust oCX scores, ranging from 83 to 86 in the earlier months and staying competitive with traditional banks throughout the period.
• While traditional banks still hold an advantage, peaking at 90 in December, the difference is smaller than the overall neobank vs. traditional bank comparison, indicating that leading neobanks are closing the gap.
• The steady upward trend of these top neobanks suggests that trust is not a lost battle for digital-first banks—those that prioritize reliability, security, and customer experience are being recognized positively by users.

Why Some Neobanks Are Closing the Trust Gap

Top neobanks like Revolut, Upgrade, Chime, Koho, and Wise have stood out due to their consistent service, strong app performance, and user-friendly interfaces. These banks have successfully differentiated themselves from the broader neobank category by:

• Offering seamless user experiences with fewer disruptions.
• Providing competitive financial products that rival traditional banks.
• Focusing on customer satisfaction through improved service reliability and transparency.

What This Means for the Future of Neobanking

This data highlights that trust in neobanking is not uniform—while some neobanks continue to struggle with customer confidence, a few industry leaders are proving that digital-only banks can be just as trustworthy as traditional institutions. Moving forward, the challenge for neobanks is to learn from these top performers and scale their success across the industry.

Neobanks Are on the Right Track

Despite still trailing traditional banks in overall trust, these improvements indicate that neobanks are heading in the right direction. By focusing on service reliability, transparency, and customer experience, neobanks can continue closing the trust gap and positioning themselves as viable alternatives to traditional financial institutions.

The next challenge for neobanks is not just improving their trust scores but maintaining long-term consistency—a key factor that traditional banks have historically excelled at.

What Sets Trustworthy Neobanks Apart?

Not all neobanks are perceived equally when it comes to trust. While neobanks as a whole still lag behind traditional banks in overall trust perception, some stand out as notably more reliable and user-friendly. The top five neobanks in terms of oCX score—Revolut, Upgrade, Chime, Koho, and Wise—consistently outperform other neobanks in key trust-related categories.

The Key Factors That Define Trustworthy Neobanks

Lower Friction in Fees & Pricing Transparency

• • The top-performing neobanks received fewer complaints about unexpected charges and unclear fee structures, making them more transparent and predictable for users.
  • Compared to lower-scoring neobanks, these five banks had higher positive sentiment in the “Fees” category, reflecting better customer expectations management.

Stronger Service Continuity & Reliability

• • Consistent access to accounts and seamless transactions are fundamental trust drivers. The leading neobanks performed better in this area, minimizing disruptions and technical issues that often erode user confidence.
  • Service continuity issues (such as funds being locked, delayed transactions, or app outages) were less frequently mentioned in complaints about these five neobanks.

Superior App Usability & User Experience

• • A significant part of trust in digital banking comes from how intuitive and functional the app is.
  • The highest-scoring neobanks lead in “App Usability,” offering smoother navigation, fewer bugs, and better design, resulting in fewer frustrations and higher retention rates.

Better Security Perception

• • Security is a make-or-break factor for financial trust. While all neobanks face concerns about fraud, unauthorized charges, and data privacy, the top five neobanks had higher positive sentiment in security-related reviews than lower-ranking competitors.
  • Users of these neobanks expressed greater confidence in fraud protection, account safety, and transaction security, which directly impacts their overall trust perception.

The Formula for a Trusted Neobank

What sets Revolut, Upgrade, Chime, Koho, and Wise apart is their ability to balance innovation with reliability. By excelling in fees, service continuity, app usability, and security, these neobanks have earned higher trust scores and positioned themselves as top choices for customers looking for digital-first banking solutions.

As trust remains a major factor in neobank adoption, other digital banks can learn from these leaders by prioritizing transparency, reliability, and user-friendly experiences to build long-term customer loyalty.

Conclusion and The Future of Trust in Digital Banking: What’s Next?

One of the key findings from this report is that trust in neobanks is closely tied to their performance in service continuity, app usability, security, and fee transparency. The top 5 neobanks outperform others in these areas, making them the most trusted among digital banks. Additionally, 7 out of 8 neobanks we tracked have improved their oCX scores from 2023, reinforcing the upward trend in trust and customer satisfaction.

What’s Next for Neobanks?

To fully close the trust gap, neobanks need to continue enhancing reliability, security, and customer communication. The most successful neobanks in our report have already demonstrated that prioritizing these factors leads to stronger customer loyalty.

While traditional banks still hold the edge, the rapid progress of leading neobanks suggests that trust in digital banking is evolving. If neobanks sustain this momentum and refine their services, they have the potential to rival—and even surpass—traditional banks in trust perception in the coming years.

If you have any questions about scoring, our report, or our analysis, feel free to contact us here.