The popularity of mobile banking grew last year, with 43% of adults with mobile phones and bank accounts using their phones for financial activities, according to an annual survey by the Federal Reserve.
The share of adults who reported using mobile-banking features increased by 4 percentage points from the Fed’s 2014 survey, reflecting the increasing popularity of features like mobile payments and the capability to check account balances on a hand-held device. More than half of mobile-banking users had received alerts from their financial institution in the form of a push notification, text message or email.
The report also shows how mobile banking continues to disrupt more traditional banking channels. While mobile hasn’t surpassed online banking or ATMs as the “most important way” consumers interact with their bank, it beat out branch tellers for third place among types of banking interactions ranked by importance.
As consumers continue to embrace their mobile phones and other devices, and mobile banking capabilities expand to include features traditionally handled in teller lines, the demand for all things mobile continues. This phenomenon is not new, and mobility use has been trending upward for several years, as has been chronicled in various Mercator Advisory Group Banking Channels reports. And with innovation continuing in the mobility space, and financial institutions expanding mobile banking to include mobile wallet and some payments capabilities, further growth is inevitable.
Overview by Ed O’Brien, Director, Banking Channels Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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