Saturday, February 13, 2010

Mobile Banking Popular Among Smart Phone Users

According to the "Mobile Money Study" published last month by Data Innovation Network almost 70% of US smartphone users had used at least one mobile banking and/or payment service on their phone in the previous three months.

As has been found in previous studies and reinforced by Doug Brown from Bank of America at last year's BAI Retail Delivery Conference in Boston, the Mobile Money Study found that checking account balances was the most popular banking application (82%) followed by looking for posted transactions (62%). Account alert features were also popular (46%), with roughly 40% of those surveyed transferring money between accounts.


Interestingly, an overwhelming majority of smartphone users accessed mobile banking using their mobile browser (66%) as opposed to a mobile app (20%), with a large number of respondents interested in a mobile wallet concept where they could swipe their phone like a credit or debit card. This possibility was also found to be popular with a Gen Y panel when I attended last year's BAI Transpay Conference in San Diego.

As the penetration of smartphones continues to increase, consumers will become more and more comfortable with and demanding of mobile banking services. I expect the availability and ease of use of mobile banking to become a significant competitive differentiator in the coming 12-18 months for financial institutions.

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