Research

Mobile Commerce Growth Accompanied by Security Concerns (infographic)

Mobile commerce grew to $4 billion in 2011, and e-commerce has been rising as a percentage of total U.S. retail sales for the last ten years.

35.6 million mobile phone users are projected to use mobile coupons by 2013, according to eMarketer. However, not everyone is comfortable with mobile coupons, with Opus Research reporting that nearly 52 percent of consumers are “not likely to use” mobile coupons.

These and other interesting statistics are captured by legal firm Loeb & Loeb in its infographic on Mobile Commerce.

Click here to view the full infographic.

February 22, 2012 | mobile commerce and Research | 0 Comments

Financial Institutions are in the Mobile Payments Driver’s Seat

Many of the new entrants in the mobile payments space must face one nagging reality: consumers still trust their banks and credit card companies to drive the mobile payments market. That’s according to new research from KPMG and mobile analyst Chetan Sharma as previously reported in MobileFI.

This doesn’t mean that initiatives such as Google Wallet, Square, Isis or PayPal are doomed to fail; most are already aligned with banks and credit card companies. But consumers’ embrace of mobile payments are seemingly smoother when led by a known financial institution (FI).

KPMG found that:

When asked who they trusted the most with their mobile commerce financial data, 56% of respondents identified their FI; only 7 percent trusted retailers and 6 percent said they trusted their mobile/Internet service providers. Secure payment systems, such as PayPal, fared better, with 30 percent saying they trust them with their information.
72 percent rated the “brand/reputation” of the institution as very important in gaining trust with respect to data privacy and security.
The percentage of people worried about data privacy and security concerns has gone from 75 percent in the previous survey to 90 percent now.

Sharma found similar results:

37 percent of respondents believed FIs were most likely to define the mobile payments and commerce space, up from a little more than 31 percent in 2011.
Meanwhile, operators, Google and PayPal were well behind, with respondents expressing less confidence in their ability to define the payment market in 2012 compared to last year.
Start-ups as a group got more backing from respondents in 2012 while Amazon and Apple showed up on the charts for the first time this year.

Given they are clearly in the mobile payments driver’s seat, FIs should not squander the opportunity.

FIs interested in maintaining control of their mobile payments initiative should download the Clairmail white paper, Mobile Payments: Driving New Revenue from the Mobile Channel.

February 21, 2012 | Analysts, Payments and Research | 0 Comments

Mobile Banking Reaches Critical Mass for Big Banks

EMI recently analyzed the 4Q11 financials from both JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. Their analysis underlined the extent to which mobile banking has emerged as a key banking channel, while concurrently indicating that online penetration may have reached a ceiling.

Chase:

Between 4Q10 and 4Q11, Chase grew its active mobile banking customers by 57%, while during the same period active online banking customers increased by 3%.
Active online banking customers as a percentage of total Chase checking customers rose from 62% in 4Q10 to 65% in 1Q11, but has remained at 65% for the three subsequent quarters. Active mobile customers as a percentage of checking customers rose from 20% in 4Q10 to 32% in 4Q11.
Active mobile customers as a percentage of active online customers rose from 32% in 4Q10 to 48% in 4Q11.
The rate of growth in active mobile customers does not yet show signs of abating. The quarterly growth rate fell from 13% in 1Q11 to 9% in 2Q11, but then increased to 10% in 3Q11 and again to 16% in the most recent quarter.

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February 14, 2012 | Adoption, mobile banking, mobile enrollment, Research and Uncategorized | 0 Comments

Over Half a Billion Mobile Banking Users Expected Next Year

The number of mobile banking users worldwide will reach 530 million by 2013, up from just over 300 million last year, according to a new Juniper Research report.

According to Juniper’s Mobile Banking for Developed & Developing Markets report, mobile services are becoming a fundamental component of business strategies for financial institutions (FIs) as they respond to the current economic climate.

Mobile banking is particularly likely to gain impetus in Western markets, as consumers seek tighter control over their finances given uncertain economic conditions.

The report notes that the most successful mobile banking deployments will utilize all three mobile modes — client applications, text messaging and mobile web — rather than being solely app-focused.

The report also states that as banks migrate from traditional bricks-and-mortar approaches and seek competitive differentiation, mobile banking offers an opportunity for all banks to improve operational efficiencies and customer retention and acquisition as a cost-effective communication channel. Read More »

February 13, 2012 | Adoption, Analysts, International, mobile banking and Research | 0 Comments

Aite Group Warns of Mobile Fraud Risks

A recent Aite Group report, “Mobile Fraud: The Next Frontier”, advises financial institutions (FIs) to prepare themselves to fight mobile fraud. The Aite report, based on a survey of 24 global risk executives, states that while fraud has yet to become common through mobile banking channels, cyber criminals likely have mobile banking and mobile payments on their radar, and many FIs lack fraud protection that equally covers both mobile and online banking programs.

“The most surprising thing in compiling this report was that two-thirds of the respondents said they did not have integrated fraud protection between mobile and online channels at their financial institutions,” said Julie Conroy McNelley, senior analyst and fraud expert with Aite Group.

FIs have not yet built multiple layers of fraud protection for their mobile banking programs, because so far they have not noticed a lot of breaches in that arena – but stiffer fraud measures may soon become essential, if history is any guide McNelley says.

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February 9, 2012 | Analysts, Research and Security-Fraud | 0 Comments