In Europe, consumers prefer a single app that meets all their financial needs. However, they must often rely on multiple financial apps due to feature gaps, reliability concerns, and poor customer services, according to a new research by Decta, a provider of comprehensive, in-house payment infrastructure solutions from the UK.

Conducted in April and May 2025, the research combines quantitative survey data from 1,539 respondents across the UK and the European Union (EU) with qualitative analysis of over 50,000 user reviews from the top five digital banking apps by user base, namely Revolut, N26, Wise, Monzo, and Monese.

Missing features drive multi-app usage

The study found that missing features are a primary catalyst for adopting an extra financial app, with 59.6% of respondents citing feature gaps as their primary motivations for using more than one app. This indicates that despite efforts to create all-in-one fintech super-apps, critical functionalities remain absent, prompting users to seek out complementary solutions.

Next to feature gaps, the study found that almost as many respondents (57.9%) said they use other financial apps because of better rewards or cashback, highlighting the growing importance of incentives in attracting and retaining customers.

Other reasons cited for using extra financial apps include better fees or exchange rates (36.3%), task segmentation (24.6%), trust and reliability concerns (17%), and a desire to try new apps or features (6%).

Reliability and support concerns

An analysis of app reviews revealed that frustration with day-to-day reliability and support is another key driver pushing consumers to keep a back-up finance app. Across the five UK and EU digital banks studied, 39 % of all negative reviews cited poor or unresponsive customer support, unexpected account freezes, or lengthy verification hurdles.

This share is remarkably consistent from app to app, underscoring that every provider generates a steady trickle of “support horror stories.” Because of this, many users keep a secondary app in case one gets locks up or support goes silent, ensuring that funds and day-to-day payments can still flow through an alternative.

Budgeting as the most notable missing feature

Results from the survey revealed that budgeting and spending analysis features are the most commonly missing features, cited by over half (52%) of respondents. That’s more than any other feature shortfall and indicates that budgeting features are either missing from the top fintech apps, or their functionalities are so limited that customers must install a dedicated app known for better budgeting features as their secondary tool.

Better integration with other financial apps were the second most cited motivation for using multiple finance apps (51.5%). This suggests that integration and interoperability have become critically important for customers. For customers interoperability means a more convenient and unified experience that delivers greater clarity, control and confidence in managing money.

A forced necessity

Findings from the study also revealed that most customers maintain multiple apps out of necessity rather than preference. An overwhelming majority of respondents (91%) said they would gladly consolidate everything into one app if it met all their needs. Only ~2% said they probably would not drop the extras.

This indicates that consumers are reluctantly keeping multiple financial apps, favoring the super-app model for its convenience, simplicity, and superior user experience.

Neobanks become all-in-one finance platforms

Digital banks and fintech players have recognized these changing customer preferences, and are now progressively evolving into comprehensive financial ecosystems.

Revolut, for example, launched in 2015 with a smartphone app linked to a pre-paid Mastercard, focusing on low-cost foreign exchange spending. The company has since expanded into cryptocurrency trading, stock investing, savings, insurance, business accounts, mortgages, and more.

Now serving over 45 million customers from more than 40 countries, Revolut is one of Europe’s most valuable and profitable fintech unicorns, achieving in 2023 its third consecutive year of profitability with a 19% net profit margin.

Wise, another leading neobanking player from Europe, began in 2011 with an affordable international money transfer business. The company now operates three core services targeting individual customers, businesses, and corporate.

Wise Account is a free multi-currency account that lets users hold, send, receive, and spend in more than 40 currencies with local bank details. It includes a physical and virtual debit card, real‑time exchange at the mid‑market rate, fully transparent fees, and a 48‑hour rate guarantee.

Wise Business is tailored for freelancers and small businesses, offering similar multi-currency account functionality plus tools like mass payouts, invoice management, multiple debit cards with spending limits, and application programming interface (API) access for automating payments.

Finally, Wise Platform is a business-to-business (B2B) API infrastructure enabling banks and fintech startups to embed Wise’s global payment network to power cross-border transfers, multi-currency wallets, and debit cards within other platforms. This network covers more than 160 countries, 40 currencies, and over 70 licenses worldwide, and is used by leading organizations globally including Morgan Stanley, Nubank, Monzo, Google Pay, and Standard Chartered.

Like Revolut, Wise, is among the most valuable neobanks in the world, with a market capitalization of about US$15 billion. In fiscal year 2025, the company processed approximately GBP 145.2 billion in cross-border transactions, up 22.5% year-over-year (YoY), and claimed around 15.6 million individual and business customers.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on images bythanyakij-12 and fabrikasimf via Freepik