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Mobile banking users to increase tenfold by 2011

17 April 2008

Mobile banking users to increase tenfold by 2011

The number of consumers accessing banking services on their mobile phone is set to increase tenfold over the next four years, to reach 816 million by 2011.

Industry analyst Juniper Research said this week that financial institutions are delivering an increasing variety of products in the mobile environment, from fund transfers, bill payment and presentation to account management and customer service.

As a result, the annual number of global mobile banking transactions is forecast to rise from 2.7 billion in 2007 to 37 billion by 2011, as a greater number of services are deployed worldwide.

The analyst also anticipates that increased consumer confidence, due to the enhanced security measures being utilised in mobile financial services will be crucial to greater usage levels.

However, Juniper cautioned that a number of hurdles have yet to be overcome, including financial regulation, payment transaction costs, revenue share issues and customer support difficulties.

Following the trends outlined in all research on mobile data services recently, the China and Far East region is expected to have the greatest number of users of mobile banking services, followed by Western Europe and the Indian sub-continent.

Conceptually the mobile phone and the act of payment seem a natural match. But, as is the case with many of the good ideas this industry has had, material success on a grand scale remains elusive. The problems are familiar: the use case is difficult to define, there are various technological solutions, which generally lead the demand, and the industry is reaching beyond the bounds of its natural habitat.