Mobile banking boom on the horizon

 

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By Miya Knights

Posted on 17 Apr 2008 at 09:45

The number of people using mobile banking could increase tenfold within just three years, according to new research.

Over 800 million consumers will be using mobile services by 2011 claims analyst firm Juniper Research.

But the company was also quick to stress in its report that key issues around service deployment will have to be dealt with first.

According to the report the number of mobile banking transactions will increase globally from 2.7 billion in 2007 to 37 billion by 2011.

Juniper Research claims that increased consumer confidence, due to the enhanced security measures, will be crucial to attracting these new users.

It found that financial institutions are delivering an increasing variety of products in the mobile environment including financial information services, funds transfer, bill payment and presentation, account management and customer service, all of which will encourage adoption.

"Legislation has a strong role to play in how new mobile payment schemes will be developed. In the EU, for instance, any new payment scheme should be implemented in line with the EU's E-Money Directive," says the report.

The rapidly expanding markets of China and the Far East will have the greatest number of mobile banking users, followed by Western Europe and the Indian sub-continent.