Mobile banking to boom in mature markets

The number of mobile phone subscribers that use their phones for mobile banking transactions is forecast to top 150 million worldwide within three years.

The analyst behind the predictions is Juniper Research, which also expects that much of the growth in this area will come from mature markets, coming to rely on mobile banking, rather than emerging markets where financial services are lacking.

Juniper notes that mobile banking is currently most advanced in the Far East, but also reports that growing numbers of mobile banking services are being offered in North America and Western Europe. The developed nations of the Far East, North America and Western Europe are forecast to account for over 70 per cent of the mobile banking user base by 2011.

“Transactional or “push” mobile banking is being offered increasingly by banks via downloadable applications or the mobile web, complementing existing SMS messaging services for balance and simple information enquiries. Mobile banking is a key element in banks’ distribution channel strategies as they compete to attract and retain customers,” said Juniper analyst Howard Wilcox.

Key to the service’s growth in mature economies, is the extra user convenience afforded. With many mature markets approaching, or already having exceeded 100 per cent capacity, mobile banking is an addition to the wide choice of applications and services accessible via the handset to make life easier, especially via smartphones such as the iPhone.

However, Wilcox warns that security will be paramount to the continued success of the service, with user perception largely dictating whether the service is trusted, regardless of the reality of the strength of the security.