Mobile banking apps: the future of banking
The world is evolving at record speed. Technology governs our lives at every turn. This is certainly the case in the finance industry, as the fintech sector flourishes.
According to the British Bankers Association (BBA), the number of users of mobile banking apps has rocketed in recent years. A study shows a 12 per cent increase in usage last year over 2015, when banking apps were accessed 11 million times a day (or 7,610 times a minute).
The speed at which people can access their banking information and make transactions by using these apps is what makes them so appealing. In essence, your smartphone becomes your bank. Convenience, high security, choice and people becoming more and more tech savvy are the principal reasons why the use of mobile banking apps is escalating rapidly.
Indeed, trends within the banking sector are developing and growing all the time, as all types of financial management becomes simpler, more accessible and far more dynamic with online and mobile app banking.
Looking at research undertaken by TSB, 45 per cent of customers accessed their mobile banking app whilst watching television; 18 per cent whilst at work; 17 per cent while in bed; and 11 per cent commuting to and from work.
The BBA states: “Mobile banking apps are fast and easy, allowing us to check our balances in, say, three seconds rather than the 30 seconds necessary to login to internet banking or perhaps 10 minutes to travel to the nearest cash machine to check.”
Additionally, since 2012, transactions undertaken in banks have dropped by a substantial 40 per cent, with the rate of their decline speeding up. Telephone banking has also fallen, and last year, there was also a dip in desktop internet banking.
However, significant growth was reported in app-based banking.
Therefore, opening a bank today would, in effect, be like equipping a new, state-of-the-art office with typewriters and fax machines instead of computers. The world has moved on.
As such, with technology progressing at lightning speed, mobile banking apps will continue to advance and improve. Users will be given the option to exchange currency on the go, with zero applicable interest rates. Naturally, this is a particularly attractive feature for expats living overseas and frequent travellers.
It’s highly likely thawt both users and investors ill greatly benefit from the incomparable convenience of mobile banking apps, as, it can be reasonably assumed, in the future, physical banks will become a thing of the past.