Retirement Savings Account Study: What Customers Want and What It Means for Regional Banks (Simon-Kucher)

Summary

• 46% of surveyed regional bank customers can already imagine taking out the retirement savings account (Altersvorsorgedepot, AVD), and a further 21% are undecided.§1
• Only 13% say they know the AVD well, while another 45% have heard of it but know few details.§1
• For 42% of respondents, personal advice is an important reason to take out the AVD with their own main bank.§2
• 72% of customers with a securities account at another bank can imagine taking out an AVD, but only 35% consider it likely at their own main bank.§3
• 67% of customers without an existing securities account prefer the tested variant with a capital guarantee, despite higher costs.§4
• 58% of Riester customers can imagine taking out an AVD, while only 18% want to continue their existing Riester contract unchanged.§5

Key insights

1. Interest in the AVD is already high even though only 13% say they know it well.§1
2. Personal advice is a concrete home-bank advantage, important to 42% of respondents.§2
3. Even among 16- to 34-year-olds, the in-person conversation is the most preferred route to sign-up.§2
4. Customers with a securities account at another bank show the highest willingness to sign up at 72%, making them a win-back segment.§3
5. Among customers with an existing securities account, 55% choose one of the two variants without a guarantee, 33 percentage points of them the standardised low-cost account.§4
6. 60% of Riester customers would consider a solution in which the AVD plays at least some role.§5
7. 24% of Riester customers would first have a switch reviewed, showing they seek orientation rather than a prepackaged solution.§5