Young owners of smartphones in Britain and the United States are increasingly managing their finances via their phones, checking account balances and viewing transactions, new research shows.
Consumer research by mobile web and application specialists Antenna said 40 percent of those who accessed the Internet via mobile phones or tablet computers in the US were using mobile banking services. That compared with 25 percent in Britain. The United States was also ahead in terms of how many users were accessing banking sites via a specific mobile application created by the bank, as opposed to reaching a mobile site via a browser on the Internet.
Antenna Chief Executive Jim Hemmer told Reuters that consumers, particularly younger ones, had little loyalty for which bank they used and therefore the banks could attract more customers if they improved their offerings. The use of smartphones over more basic mobile phones is also expected to grow in the coming years.
"Mobile banking has now taken hold," he told Reuters. "People want to take care of their banking when it makes sense to them and not when a branch is open. "So banks have to rethink their model. There is not as much brand loyalty as there used to be and so they really have to think about the service they offer."
Hemmer said, however, that security was still a big issue for many consumers, especially older consumers, and that is why many were still using the service for basic tasks such as checking their balance and finding the nearest cash machine.
The survey was conducted by YouGov and surveyed 1,028 consumers in Britain and 906 in the US who accessed the Internet on their mobile phones, smartphone or tablet computers.