[george_morgan]

My understanding was that basic banking in the US lags most of Europe; contactless infrastructure is poor, mobile payments non-standardised, charges for basic accounts & general fees are all more common, more barriers to current (checking?) account switching (this is standardised in the UK by BACs & the current account switch service).

It is a better environment for the challengers outside the US because there is better infrastructure & standardisation which allows them to compete with bigger incumbents.