U.S. Mobile Banking Grows 21% in 6 Months

There's a big difference between mobile banking in the United States, and mobile banking in many other countries of the developing world. In the U.S. market, mobile banking is mostly about offering consumers convenience and operating a bank at lower cost. In developing markets, mobile banking is primarily about the basic ability to transfer money safely and reliably between two people, or between a consumer bank account and a recipient organization.

In basic terms, in the U.S. market, mobile banking is about checking balances and moving funds between accounts. It is expected to become quite a bit more transaction oriented over time, but for the moment, it largely is a matter of information retrieval, with the modest addition of ability to move funds between a user's accounts.

Nearly 14 percent of the total U.S. mobile audience (32.5 million users) used mobile banking services in June 2011, up 21 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010.

Mobile credit card services saw an even greater increase, with 18.4 million mobile users accessing credit card information, up 23 percent from December 2010. Mobile auto and property insurance services also exhibited strong gains as 7.2 million mobile users accessed insurance information on their devices, a 19-percent increase. Mobile Banking App Usage in the U.S. Increases 45%

Mobile Financial Services Usage 3 Month Avg. Ending June 2011 vs. December 2010 Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens
Mobile Financial Services CategoryAccessed in the Past Month	Unique Mobile Audience (000)
	Dec-2010	Jun-2011	Percent Change
Banking Information	26,765	32,451	21%
Credit Card Information	14,931	18,356	23%
Auto or Property Insurance Information	6,041	7,169	19%
Brokerage or Stock Information	8,695	9,576	10%