More than twice as many consumers today indicated they are comfortable using a mobile phone to handle their online financial tasks than two years ago—34 percent in 2010 compared to 14 percent in 2008. More importantly, nearly half
(46 percent) of the consumers in the survey say they have used their mobile device for banking purposes. Only 19 percent did so in 2008. Almost a third (30 percent) of consumers say they conduct personal banking at least once a month, triple the 10 percent that did so in our previous survey.
Regional differences influence consumers’ behavior. Although there were increases globally from 2008 to 2010, the ASPAC region, where mobile devices are most prevalent, showed the most significant growth in the adoption of mobile banking transactions, with 44 percent saying they make mobile banking transactions at least once a month. That compares to 26 percent in CEE, 15 percent in EMA and 13 percent in the Americas. And 61 percent of ASPAC consumers and 45 percent of CEE consumers have made at least one banking transaction with their mobile phone in 2010.
In addition to conducting financial and banking transactions through their mobile phones, consumers have made a notable shift to using those devices for retail purposes, m-commerce, if you will. The percentage of consumers surveyed that say they used an online retailer’s site from their mobile phone jumped 18 points, from 10 percent in 2008 to 28 percent in 2010.
Although increases at least doubled in all comparable regions, ASPAC led the way again in users’ experience with mobile online retail transactions, with 41 percent saying they had used their mobiles to buy.