Ready or not, here it comes.
This year, banks and wireless service providers are rolling out products that let customers check account balances, pay bills, transfer money and receive alerts about deposits and payments by mobile phone.
By the end of 2007, TowerGroup expects that eight of the 10 largest banks will offer mobile banking and bill payment of some kind and predicts that, eventually, up to 25% of existing Internet banking customers will adopt mobile banking.
Celent Communications' "US Mobile Banking: Beyond the Buzz" report says that estimate is too low. By 2010, Celent predicts, 35% of online banking households will use mobile banking, compared to just 1% today. Users will be attracted by new capabilities such as mobile payments at the physical point of sale.
The market will remain small for now. Just 8% of online consumers who own a cellphone are interested in mobile browsing to check account balances, according to JupiterResearch's "Mobile Banking: Assessing Servicing Opportunities via Cell Phones" report.
A rosier picture was reported by Compete, which found nearly 30% of existing online banking customers were interested in mobile banking, although 38% said they would not use it and 33% were undecided.
Interest in mobile banking centers on using the same services offered on the Internet, according to comScore. The vast majority of Internet users wanted to check their account balances, while far fewer wanted to move money around while on their mobile devices. Opening a new account, a task that can be tedious even with a broadband connection, appealed to just 18% of Internet users.
eMarketer's Online Banking report will be published in June 2007. To be notified when it is released, click here.