Three painpoints could slow the use of mobile banking

As more leaders of financial institutions make the decision to ramp up mobile apps, they may also want to educate their customers about the useful nature of mobile banking. While millennials, who are accustomed to doing everything on their mobile devices, have quickly jumped aboard, only 28 percent of all mobile phone owners have used mobile banking in the past 12 months, according to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Jason Malo, research director for the retail banking and cards practice for CEB TowerGroup, noted that mobile banking is not yet the top option for account holders. However, there were many aspects that helped customers believe there’s a use for this type of banking including notifications, remote deposit capture, and bill pay. For mobile banking to succeed, you need to give consumers the capabilities they are looking for and most likely offer those features for free or very cheap.

I wanted to explore some of the issues that might slow the integration of the mobile banking movement:

Painpoint #1: Cybersecurity

According to a poll conducted by Harris Interactive for CTIA, 85 percent of consumers know their mobile devices are very or somewhat vulnerable and 74 percent say keeping their devices secure is their responsibility. This sounds like great news, but reality sets in quickly when we find that only 31 percent installed an anti-virus program on their phone. This is likely because about 80 percent of consumers don’t think of their phones as small computers.

“Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility, from the consumer to the app creator to operating system to the device manufacturer to carriers and everyone in between,” said Steve Largent, president and CEO of CTIA.