Bank of America has been signing people up to its mobile banking service quicker than you can say Big Mac and fries – according to BoA, there are now one million active users doing their finances by mobile and over four million banking sessions taking place every month.
The bank says Los Angeles residents are the most prolific mobile bankers with most users falling into the Gen X or Gen Y bracket – two-thirds of mobile bankers are under 35 years of age. They’re also not just sticking to passive banking like checking their balances, four in ten are also paying bills with their phone.
I’d always assumed that mobile banking was a bit slow to take off because of security concerns (justified or not) around accessing cash over mobile, but it looks like it might just be a plain and simple case of the devices not being quite up to it. BoA says: “Apple iPhone, RIM Blackberry and Microsoft Windows Mobile devices are the most popular ones used by mobile banking customers.” It looks like mobile banking was just suffering along with every other website from phones that didn’t make browsing the user-friendly experience it should be.