Research from Sybase 365 finds that Americans aren’t yet convinced that mobile banking is as safe and easy as internet banking. Many Americans are highly conscience of bank account numbers, with over 70% being able to quote their bank balances to the nearest $200. To keep numbers up-to-date, U.S. consumers check their balances frequently. 61% admit to checking their bank balances every few days. Hardcore customers, numbering 29%, require daily updates. (Only 3% have no idea how much they have in their accounts). Most of this account reassurance is done on-line but not on-the-move.
Banking in the United States is done in versatile ways, with 76% of customers using Internet banking to check up on bank account numbers. A surge in Internet banking is attributed to the convenience electronic banking gives people. But while 57% of Americans feel secure using Internet banking services like moving money between accounts, only 24% consider mobile banking to be secure. This insecurity may be due to the newness of mobile banking technology. 59% of Americans don’t even know if their bank has mobile services, which suggests that banks have to get the word out that mobile banking is available and safe.
Sybase 365 believes that despite poor numbers, in the near future the United States will embrace mobile banking services.
“Online banking is currently the number one way consumers check their account, but it didn’t become mainstream over night. Mobile banking is well on its way to gaining the same wide-spread popularity among consumers,” said Marty Beard, president, Sybase 365. “Consumers are already dependent on having many conveniences at their fingertips, and eventually that will expand to include banking abilities. Financial institutions will soon have to meet consumer demands and market mobile offerings to remain competitive.”
Interesting. Thanks for sharing, John.
I get a daily update on my account balance from my bank by sms - that is pretty reliable and very mobile…
John,
Good post. I’ll also add that 59% Americans don’t know if their bank offers mobile services because at this point 95% of banks in the U.S. do not. Today there are only a handful of institutions that are “live” with their solution and of those a even smaller percentage have a true marketing budget (i.e. Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citi).
Thanks,
Brandon
http://www.brandonmcgee.blogspot.com
Intresting article. It is surprising that US banks, which have traditionally been first movers in technology, are yet to make mobile banking a mainstream service offering. The fear of mobile banking existed in our market too (Middle East), however with major banks having gone for mobile banking, it has come to a point where customers are demanding the service from banks that are late movers. From our experience of implementing mobile banking for different banks, the security fears are unfounded and can be addressed by compensating controls.
Check us out for our product BankSmart at http://www.acette.com. Also read the article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Banking
I (and a coworker) wrote a mobile banking application in ‘99 and admittedly very few customers to this day have adopted it as a method of banking. But the fear of mobile banking security is misplaced. Especially when you consider that they seem less concerned about giving up their passwords for chocolate http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3639679.stm