More than 1.75 billion mobile phone users will have used their devices for banking purposes by the end of 2019, new research predicts.
That means the number of people who have banked using their mobile phone will have more than doubled in five years, according to analyst Juniper Research. The figure currently stands at 800 million.
Juniper’s report, Mobile & Online Banking: Developed & Developing Market Strategies 2014-2019 also notes that emerging markets such as China, India and Bangladesh have witnessed significant growth in mobile banking over the past 12 months.
Mobile banking technology is currently available in most regions of the world, driven by exceptional consumer demand, especially in the developed regions, Juniper said.
The report observed that nearly 100% of the banks that it had analysed had some sort of mobile and online banking offering. Furthermore, nearly every bank had an app available for at least one type of smartphone operating system. Banking apps are among the most downloaded financial apps in app stores, with banks reporting a high number of average logins per month per user.
Meanwhile, consumers have been making decreasing numbers of visits to their bank branches.
Report author Nitin Bhas said: “The level of maturity in the number and innovation of services being offered in the market, across several geographical areas, demonstrates that banks now regard the mobile channel as an indispensable revenue stream.”
Sally Percy is editor of The Treasurer