Mobile Banking Shifting Into High Gear, Says Fed

Some other revealing data from the Federal Reserve study include the following:

• 87% of the U.S. population has a mobile phone.
• 44% of mobile phones are smartphones (Internet-enabled).
• 84% of smartphone users have accessed the Internet on their phone in the past week.
• 21% of mobile phone owners have used mobile banking in the past 12 months.
• The most common use of mobile banking is to check account balances or recent transactions (90% of mobile banking users).
• Transferring money between accounts is the second-most common use of mobile banking (42% of mobile banking users).
• The primary reason why mobile phone users had not yet adopted mobile banking was that they felt their banking needs were being met without the use of mobile banking (58%).
• Concerns about the security of the technology were the primary reason given for not using mobile payments (42%) and the second most common reason given for not using mobile banking (48%).
• 62% of the under banked who use mobile payments have used it to pay bills.

Clearly, mobile banking is making huge strides among consumers.

Once banking customers are convinced that the technology is safe to use, and as more consumers purchase smartphones, mobile banking may hit critical mass much sooner than banks might think.