LONDON—A new study shows that well over 50% of people worldwide use mobile banking.
According to the Mobile Ecosystem Forum's recent Mobile Money Report, 61% of people use their mobile phone to carry out banking activity, with 48% using a dedicated banking app, ARC reported.
The most common activity within a mobile banking app is to check a person's balance. Comparing the current study to MEF’s 2014 report, the number of people who check their balance on a smartphone has increased from 28% to 44%.
People are also more comfortable with paying bills in an app—with 29% doing so in 2016 compared to 20% in 2014. P2P usage increased as well, with 22% sending money to other people through an app, an increase of 6%, ARC reported.
Around 28% of the 6,000 people interviewed for MEF’s report said that a bank branch was the preferred location for daily banking compared to the 26% who prefer mobile.
“There are a smaller percentage of customers who use various avenues to bank, with 19% of people accessing their bank on a daily basis through one of three channels—mobile app, physical location or website access via a desktop,” ARC noted in its analysis.