Many consumers still to embrace change and use mobile banking apps

Research released today [21 Sept 2015] by Callcredit Information Group reveal that less than a third of the socio-economic group ‘Business Elite’ use a banking app on their smartphone.

Earlier this year the bba’s ‘The Way We Bank Now – World of Change’ report announced that by March 2015 there were 10.5 million banking app log-ins a day.

Callcredit’s research, which looks at consumer’s attitudes to mobile banking apps, has been enhanced with segmentation tool CAMEO UK to get a deeper understanding into how consumer behaviour varies across different socio-economic groups. 

The enhanced findings, undertaken by YouGov*,  highlight the importance for banks and marketers to unlock the wider data they hold on how consumers are banking by segmenting and understanding different groups of consumers better.

Key findings to the question: If you have a smartphone, do you use a mobile banking application on it?:

No – I do not use a banking application on my smartphone

• 50 per cent of the groups ‘Business Elite’ & ‘Paying the Mortgage’  
• 49 per cent of ‘Family Value’  
• 46 per cent ‘Flourishing Society’ & ‘Content Communities’

Yes – I use a banking application on my smartphone  

• 43 per cent of the group ‘White Collar Neighbourhoods’ compared to only 24 per cent ‘Enterprising Mainstream’

Will Lowe, MD – Marketing Solutions, Callcredit Information Group said: "Consumers today use a variety of devices to access online banking (laptop, PC, smartphone, tablet).  The analysis reveals that CAMEO can help understand the channel and device preferences, which vary by socio-economic groups.  For example, the group ‘Prosperous Professionals’ are almost twice as likely to use 3 devices to access online banking compared to the group ‘Cash Conscious Communities’. 

"CAMEO also highlights differences in device preference, revealing that while 44 per cent of group ‘On a Budget’ are happy to use their smart phone to access online banking compared to 25 per cent of the group ‘White Collar Neighbourhoods’, whose main preference (53 per cent) is using their laptop."

Other findings revealed that overall the different groups are confident in the security of mobile banking apps with the highest value of those not confident being only 39 per cent – group ‘Content Communities’. 

When asked how comfortable they would be in making a payment with their mobile phone rather than a bank card, 69 per cent of groups ‘Business Elite’ and ‘Enterprising Mainstream’ indicated they wouldn’t be comfortable followed by 64 per cent of the group ‘On a Budget’.  The groups with the highest percentage (32 per cent) indicating they would be comfortable were ‘Cash Conscious Communities’ and ‘Family Value’.

The main uses for a mobile banking app were to check balances and statements (99 per cent of groups ‘Prosperous Professionals’ and ‘White Collar Neighbourhoods’ and 97 per cent of ‘Business Elite and ‘Flourishing Society’), followed by transferring money between accounts and to other people.  Figures across all the groups were low for managing direct debits as a reason for using a mobile app.  

* All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc.  Total sample size was 1,707 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 12th - 13th July 2015.  The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).