Mobile banking users to grow up to 150 million by 2011: report

The number of mobile phone users across the globe is expected to reach 150 million by the next two years, with the Far East, North America and Western Europe accounting for a major share of this growing subscriber base, says a recent report by Juniper Research.

While the Far East region still dominates the global market in terms of the use and infrastructure of the mobile banking network, North America and Western Europe are likely to catch up with significant growth in the number of users and portfolio of services, the report says.

As a result, these three regions would together account for 70% of the 150 million user base of mobile banking by 2011. The popularity of m-banking would grow fast primarily because of the convenience factor. Most people owning a mobile phone would start using it for balance and simple information enquiries and for other transactional banking services provided by the banks thr ough downl o adabl e applications, the report says.

The report however highlights a few bottlenecks such as technology, financial regulations, security issues, application usability, among others.

According to Howard Wilcox, Juniper Research, mobile banking would become “a key element in banks' distribution channel strategies as they compete to attract and retain customers.”

Meanwhile, another report by research group Future Foundation states that by 2020, 75% people would control their money through m-banking. Although a number of major high street banks including HSBC, LloydsTSB, Alliance and Leicester, Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest have already rolled out mobile banking facilities for their customers, a small portion of the population currently bank through the mobile phones.

The report also says that the current global recession has accelerated the use of mbanking as people have become more concerned about keeping a tab on their finances.