SBI Financial and Economic Research Institute has been conducting surveys on general consumers' interest in and usage of various financial products since 2022, particularly focusing on new digital financial products (next generation financial products) such as crypto assets. The third survey, "Next Generation Finance Survey 2024," was conducted from late August to early October 2024, and the results have now been released.

Survey Overview:

• This survey aims to examine individuals‘ asset selection behavior and the factors influencing their choices, focusing on new digital financial products such as Crypto assets (CA), Stablecoins (SC), Security tokens (ST), and Non-fungible tokens (NFT), while comparing them with traditional risk-based financial products such as stocks and bonds.
• The same survey, targeting individuals aged 20 and older in Japan, the U.S., Germany and China, was conducted from late August to early October 2024.
• The sample consists of 10,000 participants from Japan and 4,000 participants from each of the other three countries, totaling 22,000 participants.
• The questions are divided into the following four categories: (1) Attributes of the participants; (2) Risk-based financial products: awareness, investment experience, perceptions, and past investment performance; (3) New digital financial products: awareness, investment experience, perceptions, amount held, recent investment trends, and investment purpose (4) Financial literacy, risk aversion, and other factors that may influence financial asset decisions.

Key findings:

• Awareness in Japan is lower for risk-based financial products (Q9), and significantly lower for new digital financial products (Q17) than in the other countries.
• Among those aware of each financial product, Japan has less investment experience with both risk-based financial products (Q10) and new digital financial products (Q18) than the other countries.
• As for perceptions of financial products (Q13-15,23), many respondents across all countries tend to select "Anxiety about losses." Among them, "Price fluctuations" is the most common reason. Additionally, negative responses ("Anxiety about losses," "Unable to understand the products," etc.) tend to be more common than positive ones ("Expecting profit," "Diversification effect," etc.), particularly in Japan. Regarding new digital financial products (Q23), many respondents in each country select "Unable to understand the products.”
• As for the current portfolio (Q20), Japan has a relatively high percentage of cash and deposits, while the proportion of risk-based financial products is lower, and new digital financial products have a significantly smaller share. However, the holders of new digital financial products have increased their investment in all countries, including Japan (Q21).
• Turning to the ideal future portfolio (Q37), many respondents want to reduce the proportion of cash and deposits while increasing that of risk-based financial products and new digital financial products, reflecting a "from savings to investment" trend. There is also a tendency to increase stock investments when presented with stock price data, to invest more in new digital financial products when presented with bitcoin price data, and to reduce cash and deposits holdings when presented inflation outlooks. This highlights how the provision of information can influence financial product choices.
• Germany has a high level of financial literacy (Q25-28) among the countries, while Japan is at the same level as the U.S. and China. Respondents with higher financial literacy tend to have more experience investing in domestic stocks (Q10) and less experience investing in crypto assets (Q18). Financial literacy is generally higher among those who have received financial education, yet the proportion of people receiving such education is low in Japan (Q12).
• Respondents with a higher risk appetite (Q29,30) are more inclined to invest in risk-based financial products and new digital financial products (Q10,18).
• Men are more likely than women to invest in risk-based financial products and new digital financial products (Q10,18), and both men and women with male-dominated gender norms tend to have more investment experience (Q33).
• Regarding the economic growth rate forecast (Q34), respondents with higher expectations tend to have more experience in investing various financial products (Q10,18). In contrast, greater variance is associated with less experience in domestic stocks (Q10) and more experience in crypto assets (Q18).
• Greater variance in inflation forecast (Q35) tends to be associated with a higher percentage of gold holdings (Q20).
• Respondents have low interest in investment in real estate for investment in Japan (Q38).

Published documents:

See below for details.

“Next Generation Finance Survey 2024," December 24, 2024

“Next Generation Finance Survey 2024 (Overview),” December 24, 2024

“Next Generation Finance Survey 2024 Questionnaire,” December 24, 2024

For the past survey results, see below.
Questionnaire Survey | Social Design for the Next Generation Digital Finance

Contact:

SBI Financial and Economic Research Institute
Address: Izumi Garden Tower 19F, 1-6-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-6019
Phone: +81-3-6229-1001
Attn: MASUJIMA, NAMBA