Mobile Banking Reaches 90 Percent Saturation with Financial Institutions
The last time we heard from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, they were trying to tell us that mobile payments adoption rates weren’t exactly looking for a big jump. However, the bank may have to eat its words—at least an appetizer portion of them—as it recently released a report saying that mobile banking has definitely taken off, to the point where nine out of 10 financial institutions now offer the service.
The report drew together information from 706 different financial institutions throughout several major US cities, which represented 8.7 percent of all banks and 3.1 percent of all credit unions total. Not only did it find that 89 percent of said institutions offered mobile banking, but the customers were interested as well. Fifty-four percent of organizations offering such services noted that at least 20 percent of customers had enrolled, and 44 percent of the tracking institutions had over 20 percent actively putting mobile banking services to use.
What’s more, mobile payments are starting to pick up as an option within banks; 24 percent of those offering mobile banking offer mobile payments, and 40 percent plan to start offering such services within the next two years. Over two thirds either offer mobile payments or are planning to with a third-party operation, and over half are considering partnerships with near-field communications (NFC) wallet providers.
So while mobile payments may not be catching on according to the bank’s figures, plenty are considering adding them on. These banks are certainly offering mobile banking options, which as several studies have shown previously, is exactly what customers want. A combination of competition and overall industry momentum is cited among the biggest reasons for banks pushing the mobile envelope that much harder.
It’s obvious that bank customers—particularly millennials—are increasingly interested in mobile options when it comes to getting the business of banking done. We’ve even seen some banks close physical branches as a response to the ever-increasing growth of mobile banking. Why leave a branch open when more users would rather handle such operations from the screen of a smartphone?
The new survey from the Fed illustrates the growth of both mobile payments and mobile banking sectors nicely. While banking is outpacing payments, payments aren’t exactly far behind.