Mobile Banking Gaining Ground Rapidly ‘Down Under’

Contributor:

Simon Millett
Director of Banking
Financial Services Group
CSC

The LEF Connected Consumer report again proved timely as Westpac, one of Australia's Big 4 banks, recently announced that more than 1 million customers — 15 percent of its consumer and business customers — now use smartphones regularly to access their accounts.

The relevance of the LEF Connected Consumer 4M's — Mobile, Micro, Media and Mining — is readily apparent in the latest statistics.

Mobile has become a key proving ground for financial institutions as customers expect to be able to access information and funds on the move.

Westpac says use of smartphones to access its mobile services grew 90 percent in the year ended April 2012. Mobile now accounts for 30 percent of customers’ online sessions — a growth of more than 150 percent over the same time frame.

The bank's small- and medium-sized business customers have recorded 3.5 billion mobile transactions during the past six months alone, with the bank’s mobile channels now racking up more than 2 million sessions a week. About 10 percent of the bank’s online customers no longer sign in to use its services from a computer.

It’s no surprise that Westpac says banking is being transformed by technology, a trend its execs see as only likely to accelerate — especially in light of the fact that eight in 10 of the bank’s customers say they enjoy the ease of use. Westpac reckons that ease of use plus fast download speeds, a good range of tasks, reliability and the knowledge that their transactions are secure are the key factors driving “banking on the go.”

Given the similarities of Australia's Big 4 banks — together they process close to 85 percent of all banking and financial services transactions in the Australian marketplace — it’s not unreasonable to extrapolate the Westpac data to the whole national population.

In fact, Australian consumers are highly connected. Google/IPSP research revealed last year that Australia had the second highest smartphone penetration in the world at 37 percent and that Australians were also consuming more apps than other regions. It’s clear that connected consumers are speaking volumes to Australia’s financial services market.

M for Mobile — huge! What do you think? Where will we see the next innovations in mobile transactions? Australia? Europe? North America? What about the 3 billion consumers in Asia?

Blog on!