Mobile continues to grow in popularity as a channel for acquiring financial information and account servicing, with mobile financial users representing 16 percent of the US mobile audience of 234 million users in Q2 2011, a recent study has revealed.
The study has shown that there were 32.5 million US users in Q2 2011 who accessed banking information compared to 18.4 million who used their mobile phone for credit cards, 7.2 million who used it for auto or property insurance and 9.6 million who used their mobile devices for stocks/mutual funds.
Furthermore, the study has found that in Q2 2011, 33.5 percent of all mobile users owned a smartphone, enabling greater mobile media consumption and access to bank accounts while on-the-go. By November 2011, this percentage grew to 39.1 percent.
Moreover, the survey has revealed that in 2010 the US mobile customers’ preferred platform was RIM followed by Apple and Google. However, by the end of 2011, Google took the lead followed by Apple, RIM, Microsoft, Symbian and Palm. Additionally, the total US mobile audience grew from 20 percent in 2010 to almost 40 percent at the end of 2011.
According to the survey, US mobile banking users engage with financial institutions from their devices via a mobile browser, an app or text messaging (SMS) and text alerts. Browser usage continues to be the dominant channel used to access banking-related services from a mobile device with 17.6 million mobile banking users compared to only 10.4 million mobile credit card users. Additionally, the survey has shown a growth in app usage among US mobile financial users reaching 13.7 million users compared to 6.3 million mobile credit card app users.
In addition, the survey has found that it becomes increasingly important for banking institutions to invest in their mobile channel, as 52 percent of US bank customers accessed their account from a mobile browser at least once a week, 56 percent from PC/laptop, 42 percent clicked on link in text message and 41 percent of bank customers accessed their accounts from a mobile app.
The survey has also revealed that 3 out of every 5 US mobile bankers are between the ages of 18-34 (59 percent), more than double the percentage of those who do not take advantage of mobile banking offerings (28 percent). Consequently, mobile bankers are twice as likely to have a household income of USD 100k or more than non-users (31 percent vs. 15 percent).
Finally, the survey has found that, among those who are aware of mobile banking functionality, awareness is twice as high as actual adoption and is limited to slightly more than half of all smartphone owners with a bank account. Although smartphone users are aware of options such as checking balances (57 percent), viewing transactions (48 percent), receiving bank alerts (45 percent), paying bills (43 percent), transferring money (43 percent), only few of them use these features. Thus, the banking activities conducted most often from a mobile device are checking balances (32 percent) and viewing transactions (23 percent), followed by receiving bank alerts (16 percent), paying bills (16 percent), transferring money (15 percent) and other.
The report titled “2011 State of Online and Mobile Banking” has been issued by market research firm comScore.