mobile banking adoption accelerates

Demand for mobile banking has soared by 50% in one year,
research by TNS found.

In particular, in developing markets such as Kenya, where more
people have mobile phones than traditional bank accounts, mobile
banking growth has increased by 200%.

According to TNS, one in every five people now use their mobile
for financial transactions.

Another trend that the research agency found was the take off of
mobile wallets:

In China, more than a fifth of the population (21%) “store
money” on their mobile phones, compared with 8% in the US and 12%
in the UK.

Highlights of the study included:

• The number of mobile banking users doubled in the past 12
  months in
  China,
  Brazil and
  Kenya;
• In the
  UK, 20.4% people now use mobile banking – compared
  with 9.7% a year ago.
• In the US,
  mobile banking adoption grew from 11.4% in 2010 to 21.9%;
• 
  Sweden recorded a bigger leap still: mobile banking
  adoption rose from 8.1% to 20%.
• 63% of mobile phone users in sub-Saharan Africa said they would
  like mobile banking services;

Mobile wallet adoption

In comparison to general mobile banking adoption, the uptake of
mobile wallets has been slower:

• In the US, mobile wallet adoption rose by 2
  percentage points in the past 12 months to 8%;
• In Singapore, the adoption of mobile
  wallets increased from 10% to 13%;
• While in Hong Kong, adoption rose by just one
  percentage point to 17%;

But TNS recorded a surge in mobile wallet adoption in
Chile, where the use of  the digital wallet
soared from 1% last year to 7% in 2011.

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