The adoption of mobile financial services is dependent on device technology and 3G networks, according to a new report from comScore.
The study looked at how mobile users access their banking accounts and found mobile Web browsing to be the most popular way for both smartphone (44.1%) and 3G users (53.3%), followed by mobile applications (48.1 % of 3G users and 40.6% of smartphone users.
The relative balance among usage of browsers vs. applications for access to mobile banking indicates the growing importance of ease of use for accessing accounts and conducting transactions. The percentage of mobile bankers who used texting for access to their account information was significantly higher among 3G users (41%) than Smartphone users (25%).
“The increasing adoption of smartphones and access to 3G networks, along with the rapid development of mobile apps, have created a fertile environment for the acceleration of mobile banking,” said Marc Trudeau, comScore senior director. “
“A seamless mobile banking user experience is necessary for this behavior to take hold, and the convergence of the aforementioned technologies is now making mobile phones a viable access point for personal banking transactions. Financial institutions hoping to capitalize on this quickly emerging consumer banking trend need to be ahead of the curve and understand how consumers are using the mobile channel today and how they would like to use it in the future.”
The largest percent of mobile customers, 31 percent, access their financial accounts from home, even though many households have Internet connections available. Another 25 percent conduct transactions when running errands, while 15 percent do so during their commute. Nine percent of respondents indicated that they primarily access their accounts while on vacation, and 8 percent do so primarily while traveling for business.
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