Australia: banks are the most trusted on m-payments - report

According to recent study entitled Mobile Consumer 2014 from consulting firm Deloitte, businesses from a variety of sectors are developing mobile digital wallet services, including banks, telcos, tech companies and credit card companies. However, the banks handily beat the other providers in consumer trust, the report points out.

The report shows that nearly three-quarters (73%) of consumers surveyed said they trust their bank in providing a mobile digital wallet service.

The study also highlights that the next most trusted business category are other financial institutions such as Visa or MasterCard, with 26% of respondents saying they would trust this type of company. They are followed closely by money transfer services including PayPal, at 25%.

The survey also unveils that very few consumers said they trust telcos and other network operators (5%), or app store providers like Apple and Google (4%).

While uptake of mobile payments has been slower than some expected in Australia, Deloitte findings show that 35% of survey respondents are willing to use their smartphone to pay in shops. More than 60% of this group were between the age of 18 and 24.

The report also mentions that more than half of the Australians surveyed (55%) have used mobile banking in some form on a smartphone. That places Australia in the middle of the pack compared to other countries. Australia beat the US (48%) and the UK (47%), but lagged behind countries including Norway (72%) and China (88%), adds the survey.

The research points out that checking bank balances is the most common mobile banking practice, with 46% of respondents saying they had used their phones for this purpose. However, nearly one-third said they have transferred money or made an online purchase using their phone.

For the report, Deloitte surveyed a nationally representative sample of about 2,000 Australian consumers aged 18-75. Ipsos, an independent research firm, conducted the field work in May 2014. The report also covers trends in smartphone devices, mobile messaging apps, Wi-Fi versus 4G and social networks on mobile.