By Michael Moore
A survey from Juniper Research has found that 98 percent of Brits are either “very happy” or “quite happy” with their mobile banking service.
However, trust and reliability still remain a key concern for many consumers, as a larger number of respondents said that they would be prepared to switch providers if certain standards were not met.
Nearly a third (31 percent) of mobile banking users surveyed by Juniper said they would consider changing banks if they had a bad experience with their service.
Trusted
Overall, mobile banking technology seems to be establishing a firm foothold across the United Kingdom, as 70 percent of respondents now use some kind of mobile banking service.
Juniper found that 80 percent of users were accessing services using a smartphone over any other device, showing how on-the-go services are a real boon to British users.
Account money transfer is the most popular mobile banking activity, with 65 percent of mobile banking users making regular transactions.
However it seems that there is still work to be done in order to get the remainder of the U.K. consumer base interested in mobile banking, with several major hurdles remaining.
Juniper found that a lack of trust in online services remains a key barrier to non-users, together with a preference for alternative engagement channels such as visiting a physical branch to deal with actual employees.
This is particularly an issue among older customers, who make up a large proportion of the non-users, and will need to be directly addressed, the firm warns.
The survey also explored U.K. consumers’ attitudes towards contactless payments, finding that nearly a quarter (23 percent) of respondents who currently don’t use the technology will begin using smartphone or wearable-based contactless payments in the future, slightly more than expect to use contactless cards.
The study is good news for businesses and payment providers alike, as another recent study by Juniper predicted that that the number of annual purchases made via mobiles, tablets, desktops and other connected devices should reach 125 billion annually by 2018—60 percent more than the total number of transactions in 2015.