Internet Banking Via Mobile Devices Growing

According to a recent report from comScore Inc., access to mobile banking is growing at such a rapid pace that a substantial percentage of users are now accessing their mobile accounts from home on their smartphones and handsets rather than on their PCs at home.

In its inaugural report on the Mobile Financial Services Market which was released recently, comScore said respondents to its survey which examined the use of mobile banking access on mobile phones and 3G service, found that 31% actually accessed financial accounts on mobile phones at home. The next largest percentage — 25% — accessed accounts while running errands. Other times and places from which respondents accessed their bank accounts were: while commuting, 15%; at work, 11%; on vacation, 9%; and business travel, 8%.

Additionally, 44.1% of respondents in the study accessed their financial accounts via Internet browsers while 40.6% used applications to access their accounts. Another 25% of mobile banking customers used SMS texting to access their accounts.

The increasing adoption of smartphones and access to 3G networks, along with the rapid development of mobile apps, has undoubtedly created a very fertile environment for the acceleration of mobile banking. With that, internet banking via mobile devices has been growing at a rapid pace in the U.S., so look out for a more global embrace of the technology soon.

Asia-Pacific Banks To Converge Their Mobile & Internet Banking Channels

A new report by Financial Insights has revealed that banks in the Asia-Pacific region will increasingly converge their mobile and Internet banking channels over the next 12 months. In the process, this will impact how banks and other financial institutions craft their channel strategies and engage with customers.

Convergence is reportedly being driven by banks that are aiming to make financial services available to customers anywhere and at any time. They have to grapple with various issues as they converge the two channels including: (1) the level of mobile technology capable of commonly supporting financial transactions over mobile devices; (2) getting the various parties on board and in agreement; and (3) a user-friendly interface.

Improved mobile technology has allowed financial institutions to provide applications that can work on a large number of mobile phones. Thus, the availability of innovative mobile devices across the region will undoubtedly help it to become the common banking channel in the Asia-Pacific region in 2009 and beyond.