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Consumers are quickly embracing the ability to handle their banking transactions from a cellular phone or tablet, according to a new survey by Dallas-based SWACHA, one of the largest not-for-profit electronic payments associations in the country.
The 2013 study revealed that 33 percent of those surveyed now use mobile banking applications on a cell phone or a tablet, with 55 percent of those reporting they use a cell phone. This is a significant increase from the 20 percent of those who reported using mobile banking applications on a cell phone in 2011, and just seven percent in 2009. Additionally, 20 percent of those surveyed use a mobile banking application on their cell phone daily, and 45 percent of the surveyed use one at least once a week.
“This is our third Consumer Insights Survey since launching the effort in 2009, and with each survey we receive new and insightful information to assist our industry in helping consumers looking to increase their use of electronic payment technologies,” said Dennis Simmons, AAP president and CEO of SWACHA. “This year’s results show many significant trends in this rapidly changing environment that we will continue to monitor, such as remote deposit capture, which is not only changing the way people interact with technology, but it’s also changing the way people interact with their banks, and it’s an adjustment the industry is welcoming.”
The use of a mobile device to deposit checks was perhaps one of the most notable increases in the survey, with nearly three times as many people using a mobile banking application to deposit checks than reported doing so in 2011. Forty-six percent surveyed are now depositing checks with a mobile banking application, as compared to just 16 percent in 2011, representing a nearly 200 percent increase.
The study also revealed a significant increase in the amount of respondents who plan to deposit checks in the future using a mobile device. While only 16 percent planned on using their mobile device to deposit a check in 2011, 25 percent of people now foresee themselves depositing checks remotely.
Another notable find was that 86 percent of those surveyed use a mobile device to check bank balances and 35 percent use a mobile device to transfer money between personal accounts. There was also significant increases in bill payments from a mobile device increasing from 36 percent in 2011 to 41 percent in 2013, along with an increase in the transfer of money from personal accounts to others’ accounts from 26 percent in 2011 to 35 percent in 2013.
“We know the future of banking is synonymous with mobile banking, and we must learn to grow and change as technology does, which is why we felt it important this year to start monitoring the use of tablet devices for electronic payments,” said Simmons. “In 2009 and as recently as 2011, tablets were just coming onto the scene. Today, they are everywhere.”
In addition to trends in mobile banking, the survey revealed numbers and statistics on how consumers feel about the security of electronic payments, the usage of electronic payment to pay bills, and the current use of banks’ branch offices.
SWACHA’s online survey of 601 Texas residents was conducted in April 2013 by Decision Analyst with a confidence interval of 95 percent and a corresponding margin of error of +/- 4 percent. Only those respondents who identified themselves as the person responsible for the paying household bills were permitted to complete the survey.
SWACHA-The Electronic Payments Resource®, is one of the largest not-for-profit electronic payments associations in the country with approximately 1,100 members across the Southwest. SWACHA is the resource of choice for financial institutions and corporations in the areas of education, training, payments system risks and knowledge about electronic payments.