To access the full mobile banking presentation from Fiserv/Checkfree click here.

The last two weeks have produced numerous articles and announcements supporting the theory that mobile banking is truly in demand and is growing at a rapid pace. Specifically, we have seen:

Juniper Research forecasts over 800 million to do mobile banking by 2011
"A new report by Juniper Research into the mobile financial services sector has found that the number of consumers accessing banking services and products via their mobile phones will reach 816 million by 2011, a tenfold increase on the number using such services in 2007...According to the report, the annual number of global mobile banking transactions will rise from 2.7 billion in 2007 to 37 billion by 2011, as a greater number of services are deployed worldwide."

Online Banking Is Old News. Hello Mobile!
"More than 100 million US consumers will use their mobile phones for banking services by 2012, according to Javelin Strategy and Research data cited in an April 2008 BusinessWeek article."

"In an even more specific prediction, TowerGroup said in its "US Mobile Banking Forecast 2007-2012" report that nearly 41 million US consumers will conduct some banking activity by mobile phone at least every 90 days by 2012."

Mobile banking gaining traction among younger customers
"The study found that 21 percent of consumers age 18-34 use their cell phone for mobile banking transactions, compared to about 10 percent of the general population."

"Research firm Aite Group predicts that mobile banking users in the United States, having ballooned from a negligible number at the end of 2006 to 1.7 million by the end of last year, will rise to 8 million by the end of this year. And by 2010, Aite Group forecasts that 35 million Americans will be mobile banking users."

Recently, there have been a couple of interesting tid-bits from the research community.

Just this morning, there was an article in the American Banker titled "Web Seen Most Effective to Keep Young Customers" by Daniel Wolfe. In the article Mr. Wolfe shares that a recent report from Celent found that, "...60% of college students have decided to keep their current banking relationship after graduating...and that the Internet played a large role in their decision."

Additionally, the article references a discussion with Ilieva Ageenko (e-commerce director at Wachovia) where she states, "the young generation's appetite for immediate access was greater than Wachovia was able to satisfy, even by extending its services to mobile phones. For example Wachovia can give daily balance updates by text message, but its younger customers wanted intraday updates as well."

This is yet more proof that simple alerts will not be enough to satisfy the "on demand" mentality of our clients. Financial institutions must utilize a mobile offering so that the Gen Y, Gen X, and even the progressive Boomers can access their information any time - any where.



The second interesting development is from Javelin Strategy & Research. Just yesterday, I received a promotional email about the "Mobile Reports Triple Pack." The research contains three separate reports and covers the primary topics on everyone's mind: Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments, and Mobile Banking Security. While I haven't yet read them I hope to do so very soon, and while 3000ドル is not cheap it does save 600ドル off the individual price.