Last week ING Group released their ING Mobile Banking 2015 Report highlighting trends and key developments in the mobile banking and payments space over 2015. I don’t want to get too heavily into the statistics, but rather to share some of the overall themes that emerged from the survey. Following are 10 key takeaways from the ING Mobile Banking Report:
1. The ING Report is an international survey
BUT it has a heavy European focus. Outside of Europe, Australia and the USA have been surveyed. The survey of the 15 countries took place between 16 January and 2nd February, 2015…
Ref: ING Mobile Banking 2015 Report – Page 3
2. Mobile Banking Findings
According to the ING Survey 2015:
- The top 3 most developed mobile banking markets are: The Netherlands, United States, United Kingdom
- Turkey had the greatest number of internet users, and as a result is viewed as a country with a high massive mobile banking potential
- Mobile shopping is most favoured by men and under 35s
- Clothing and electronic are the most popular mobile purchases
- 1-click ordering is favoured by shoppers
- Over the past 12 months cash is being used less in Europe
- 4% of European survey participants have used Bitcoin in the last year
- Mobile payment apps trust is highest with participants’ own bank, compared with other groups such as Google, Apple….
Ref: ING Mobile Banking 2015 Report – Page 4
3. Mobile Banking ensures…
- Better financial management
- A sense of control over ones finances
- Payments aren’t missed
- Improved savings through mobile banking – I didn’t expect that!
Ref: ING Mobile Banking 2015 Report – Page 9, 10, 11
4. Purchases via a Mobile device…
- The highest share of mobile shoppers are found in Turkey, Poland and Romania….
- The lowest share were from Belgium, The Netherlands and France
- The UK and USA were middle of the road
Ref: ING Mobile Banking 2015 Report – Page 14
5. Most Popular Purchases Using Mobile
In the indicated order are for Clothing, Electronics, Games, Groceries and Music…
Ref: ING Mobile Banking 2015 Report – Page 15
6. Digital Currencies such as Bitcoin…
- Are perceived as the future of online spending in: Turkey, Italy, Spain and Poland
- The highest percentage of Bitcoin users were in Turkey (9%). Italy (7%), USA (7%), Poland (6%)
- Almost 50% of European participants don’t know what Bitcoin is
Ref: ING Mobile Banking 2015 Report – Page 24
7. Main reasons why Mobile Payments Apps are used…
- They speed things up
- Simplify payments
- Can be used in different places
Ref: ING Mobile Banking 2015 Report – Page 27
8. Main reasons why Mobile Payments Apps are NOT used…
- Lack of trust
- Technology is not available to the participant
- The technology is not understood
Ref: ING Mobile Banking 2015 Report – Page 28
9. Mobile Payment App Usage…
- Mobile payment app usage remained relatively low across Europe (33%), however the countries that ranked highest were Turkey, Poland and the USA
- While the payment app is unknown – it would be interesting to see from the US stats how – if a all – Apple Pay may have influenced the ratings
- Respondents were asked if they would use a mobile payment app in the next 12 months – again Turkey, Poland and the US ranked the highest
Ref: ING Mobile Banking 2015 Report – Page 25
10. What’s happening to Cash…?
- 50% of Europeans and Australians use cash “much less cash than 12 months ago”
- And the trend is for cash usage to decrease over the next 12 months
- But there is a group (16%) still loyal to cash
Ref: ING Mobile Banking 2015 Report – Page 21
Mobile Banking – Interesting Stuff…
This is a very insightful survey into the state of mobile banking in the surveyed countries. Out of all of the surveyed countries Turkey, Poland and Italy seem to be leading the mobile banking and mobile payments way. Another interesting finding is that participants would prefer to use their banks own mobile banking and mobile payment app, compared with apps from some of the technology companies such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet. This is intriguing given that the survey was conducted in Jan-Feb this year, while Apple Pay was in use in the US. These kinds of surveys reveal themes and trends that help banks and corporates identify potential markets that they may wish to target for their mobile payments and mobile banking applications. It also highlights factors that encourage mobile banking usage and the barriers. Lets see how the balance changes as more and more technology led payment solutions, such as Apple Pay and Facebook payments, start to become more widely available.
Source: ING Mobile Banking 2015 Report