LONDON–Among consumers in the United Kingdom, the use of Internet banking on a computer has fallen for the first time, as users switch to mobile apps, according to a new report. But most payments are still done on computers.
On average, customers logged on to banking websites 4.3 million times a day in 2015, down from 4.4 million in 2014, British Bankers Association (BBA) has found. At the same time the use of apps on phones and tablets increased to 11 million in 2017, up from seven-million log-ins in 2014.
In total, customers used such apps four-billion times in 2015, the BBA said.
The One Exception
The BBA reported, however, that when it comes to actual payments, people are still more likely to use a computer rather than an app.
In 2015 there were 417 million Internet payments, compared to 347 million payments on an app.
One reason for that, the BBA said, is that most customers still have to log in to their bank's website if they want to set up a payment to a new person. That is changing, however, the BBC reported, noting new app-based banks in the U.K. such as Atom, Starling and Tandem are making it easier to carry out the full range of transactions while on the move.
The number of payments via app rose by 54% last year, while payments via websites rose by just 2%, the BBA said.