Friday, April 16, 2010

Is it time for Mobile Banking?

Mobile Banking seems ready to explode. Javelin Strategy & Research forecasts that over 191 million U.S. Consumers will have cell phones by 2012. According to the Online Banking Report, mobile banking has "reached the point where online banking was a decade ago". And, as Net Banker reported this week, Bank of America is rolling out their Text Banking service after supporting mobile (WAP and downloadable apps) for over three years.
One of the key questions is how will this new service mesh with the current online offerings. Many are suggesting that this will appeal to a different market than the current online banking customers. The Gen Y's, for example, have grown up tethered to their cell phones. Then there are the Underbanked who use mobile devices. They have found other ways to manage their personal finances without using the typical services of banks but might be open to a mobile option.
We will be introducing a mobile solution later this year. We are pretty excited about the offering and think it will help us attract and retain the younger consumers. If you are an FI with mobile banking, I'd love to hear what your experience has been.

2 comments:

  1. Kevin,

    We rolled out mobile banking at the end of 2009. So far the response has been pretty good. SMS usage blows away WAP usage by far.

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  2. George, thanks for response. I'll be interested to see how our adoption compares to yours. We are assuming that WAP will be the leader for our area.

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