Half of UK consumers to use mobile banking in three years

NFC tops the list of new services that will drive 50% of British consumers to adopt mobile banking by 2014, new research from Monitise and the Future Foundation has found.

Monitise
SURVEY: NFC will drive British consumers to adopt mobile banking

Mobile banking has “come of age” and a majority of Britons will make it part of their everyday lives within three years, according to new research published today.

The study of 1,000 adults showed that the number of Britons who manage their money on their mobile phone has doubled in two years to almost 10% of the population today. This number will exceed 50% in the next few years as banks and retailers take advantage of the widespread adoption of smartphones, apps and 3G phone networks to deliver new services, the researchers found.

A major factor will be the emergence of ‘tap-and-go’ payments using NFC, plus an increase in the range of mobile money services such as person-to-person payments, location-based offers, shopping, transport ticketing and entertainment.

The Future Foundation report, ‘Emerging Trends in Mobile Banking’, commissioned by Monitise, found that Britain’s mobile banking users:

  • Like mobile banking and are doing it more and more — 57% have used mobile banking more frequently in the past year than they did in the previous year.
  • Prefer the convenience and ease of mobile banking to online banking — 68% find banking on their handset easier than over the internet.
  • Will embrace mobile commerce — 70% of mobile bankers are very keen to use their mobile to buy things.

The report also highlights how consumers’ desire for ‘simple complexity’ — the ability to do complicated things easily and intuitively — will help shape the development of mobile banking. This preference for the ‘simple complexity’ of mobile banking is borne out by the fact that many mobile money activities, including bill payments, balance transfers and checks, actually happen at home, despite the presence of a broadband-connected computer in the household, the researchers found.

Alastair Lukies, chief executive at Monitise, said: “This research gives a real insight into how quickly and completely Britons have made mobile banking a part of their everyday lives.”

“The fact that more than half of Britons are expected to be using mobile money services in the next few years compared to one in 20 two years ago demonstrates an exceptional rate of growth,” he added. “The driving forces are clear: People wanting to manage their money more closely; the arrival of the smartphone; and the development of 3G networks which transfer all the information required so quickly, plus the creation of new apps and services by banks and retailers.

“Mobile banking has truly come of age as people no longer see the ability to effectively manage their finances by mobile as a novelty or a ‘nice to have’ but increasingly as the norm.”

The research comes hot on the heels of a report by Acxiom that found one in five consumers in the UK is “eagerly awaiting” the introduction of NFC technology. The online poll of 17,000 people found 20.8% of those questioned are ready for NFC. The figure equates to almost 6.8 million of the 33 million mobile phone users in the UK.

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One comment on this article

  1. Meanwhile another report, from Intersperience, claims that ‘by 2014 almost fifty percent of the UK population will be using mobile Internet services, and this will mainly be fuelled by peer pressure’. I don’t see that it follows that every single one of them would be using mobile banking.
    I’m particularly sceptical that ‘one in five consumers in the UK is “eagerly awaiting” the introduction of NFC technology’ – I think you’d be lucky to find 1 in 50 right now who have the faintest idea what NFC is or what it can offer.

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