Mobile banking rising in popularity, research shows

Mobile banking is becoming increasingly popular in the UK, with more people using a smartphone to access their bank account on a regular basis, according to research from market research company Forrester.

The European Financial Services Survey surveyed 3,870 online consumers in the UK and found that 35 per cent of respondents use a smartphone to log into their bank account every month, whilst 21 per cent use a tablet and 1 per cent use a smartwatch.

Activities

Forrester also carried out a survey of 1,249 online consumers who are mobile bankers and revealed the top banking activities carried out on a smartphone in the past month, with checking a bank account balance topping the list at 95 per cent.

This was followed by viewing recent transactions at 75 per cent and transferring money between accounts at 54 per cent. Over 50 per cent of respondents used a smartphone in the past month to transfer money to someone else’s account, whilst 38 per cent used one to pay their bills and 34 per cent used one for receiving a text message alert.

Secure

A separate survey within Forrester’s European Financial Services Survey was also carried out and identified the main reasons why some online consumers choose not to use mobile banking.

Of the 1,519 respondents, 35 per cent said that they do not use a mobile phone for banking because they do not believe it is secure, whilst 34 per cent do not like banking on this type of device.

Other reasons included not trusting mobile banking and preferring or being happy with carrying out banking activities on another type of device, both cited by 34 per cent, followed by having a device with a screen that is too small for banking at 20 per cent.