Sunday, September 13, 2009

iPhone Users Doing Mobile Banking

Posted by Mark Brousseau

Mobile banking is quickly moving from a “techie” to mainstream capability that is changing how consumers manage their finances today, which in turn will change how consumers pay for goods in the future. That's according to a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research (www.javelinstrategy.com).

“Mobile banking is quickly moving from infancy to commonplace, which will help separate the winners from losers in banks’ ability to attract and keep technology-loving consumers,” said Mary Monahan, Research Director and Managing Partner. “Consumers are hungry for the ‘always-on’ and ‘real time’ ability to monitor and manage their money, and mobile banking serves that need better than any other.”

Among the findings of the report:

... Nearly half of mobile-phone owners currently have access to mobile banking today.
... By 2014, 45% of mobile-phone users will actually use mobile banking.
99 million U.S. adults will conduct mobile banking transactions at least once per year by 2014 – with 52% of mobile-phone users relying on smartphones.
... Mobile banking will rival online banking, with the former used as a “remote control” and the latter as a detailed form of control panel for more complex transactions.
... AT&T has the highest number of mobile bankers due to the iPhone’s influence, while Verizon Wireless has the lowest penetration for mobile bankers among the top tier U.S. wireless carriers.

“Mobile banking is quickly becoming an essential consumer capability,” said Mark Schwanhausser, Financial Services Channels Analyst. “Just as the iPod changed the music industry and their business models, our data shows that iPhone users are changing the banking industry by leading the way in monitoring and managing finances through mobile devices.”

What do you think? Post your comment below.

1 comment:

Chris Kocher said...

Interesting forecasts. I'm concerned by the fact that "99 million US Adults will conduct mobile banking transactions at least once per year by 2014." There may be a lot of people that use it once and then never retry. I would not consider that adoption.

The other issue is how do we get the much larger audience of mobile phone users that do not have smart phones to start using mobile banking. That is where there are some huge opportunities.

Chris Kocher
kocher@greyheron.com