Mobile Banking Customers Love Convenience, Banks Will Struggle with Business Case

An overwhelming majority (94 percent) of U.S. consumers say that banking on their mobile device is easy and more than three quarters (77 percent) feel it is convenient, but only 42 percent cite that it is reliable, according to a new study released today by Infosys. 


The Infosys survey also found that slow speed is a barrier to adoption for 31 percent of respondents. Some 30 percent are deterred by a lack of confidence in the protection of their data. About 26 percent say the experience of mobile banking is inconvenient.

Nearly half (45 percent) of consumers who do not use online banking believe that mobile banking is "experimental" or "dangerous," and more than a third (38 percent) say it is "scary." In fact, non-users are three times as likely to say "scary," and almost four times as likely to say "dangerous" than mobile banking users.

While 60 percent of consumers who do not use mobile banking cite a lack of confidence in the protection of their personal or financial data as a top concern, nearly the same amount (55 percent) share private information when updating their Facebook status on smart phones.

That might not be surprising. People have higher thresholds for security when dealing with their money, than their status update information, pictures and opinions.

Nearly 80 percent of all consumers like the mobile banking benefit of 24-hour access to their account, but only 48 percent are happy with the speed of service and only 46 percent with ease of log in.

The business issue for bankers is that mobile is a new channel to support, but without any obvious incremental revenue to gain.