Consumers and Mobile Financial Services
March 2013
Print- Preface
- Executive Summary
- Introduction
- Accessing Financial Services
Accessing Financial Services
Survey respondents were asked a set of screening questions that covered whether or not they had a bank account, access to the Internet, and ownership of mobile phones or smartphones. They were further asked about the various ways in which they access their financial accounts. Of the 90 percent of American consumers who have a checking, savings, or money market account, the majority use some form of technology to interact with their financial institution. (The Board survey also included questions about attitudes toward alternative financial services; see box 2 for more information.)
As shown in figure 2, the most common way of interacting with a financial institution remains in-person at a branch, with 85 percent of banked consumers reporting that they had visited a branch and spoken with a teller in the past 12 months. The second most common means of access in the past 12 months was via an ATM or online banking, both at 74 percent. Telephone banking was used by 34 percent of consumers with a bank account, and mobile banking was the least commonly used method at 29 percent of consumers with a bank account.
While use of telephone banking has remained constant since the previous Board survey, mobile banking usage has increased by 7 percentage points. If mobile banking usage continues to increase at this rate, it will overtake telephone banking as the fourth most common way of interacting with a financial institution within the next year.
Note: The denominator is all respondents with a checking, savings, or money market account for each question. The percentages here may differ from subsequent incidence rates due to their sample being restricted to mobile phone owners.
Box 2. Alternatives to Traditional Banking and Financial Services
The Board survey included questions regarding consumers' usage and attitudes toward alternative financial services, such as payday loans and prepaid cards.
Products such as payday loans and reloadable prepaid cards are becoming increasingly more popular as people look outside mainstream financial institutions to meet their financial needs. However, these alternatives to traditional banking may have relatively high interest rates and service charges or fees, which can vary widely depending on the specific product used. This can make alternative financial services a costly way of managing household finances if not used carefully. Moreover, consumers may have fewer regulatory protections on these non-traditional financial services when problems arise.
Prepaid Cards
Prepaid cards have remained the most-used alternative financial service over the last several years. Nearly half (49 percent) of all consumers surveyed use some type of prepaid card: 40 percent use a gift card, 14 percent use a general purpose card, 6 percent use a government provided card, and 2 percent use a payroll card.
Some general purpose prepaid cards can be reloaded with money and used as an alternative to a checking account. Among respondents with general purpose prepaid cards, 58 percent report that it is reloadable, and of those with reloadable cards, 57 percent added money to their cards in the last 12 months.
Payday Loans
One in ten respondents report ever using payday loans, but only 6 percent have done so in the past 12 months. As shown in figure A, respondents report that these payday loans were used primarily for daily essentials such as utility bills (37 percent); for food, groceries, and other living expenses (34 percent); for miscellaneous bills (30 percent); or for rent or mortgage payments (20 percent). Almost one in four respondents used the payday loan to cover an emergency expense, and 17 percent deposited the money into their bank account in order to avoid overdraft charges.
According to respondents, the main reasons for using payday loans or advances instead of other, more traditional financial services are perceptions that the borrower will be denied a bank loan or credit card (22 percent), that these payday loans are more easily attainable than credit cards and bank loans (21 percent), that money from payday loans will arrive faster than from other types of loans (19 percent), and that the location of the payday lender was more convenient (10 percent). Very few respondents are concerned with the loan appearing on their credit reports (3 percent) or feel greater comfort from payday lenders over banks (2 percent), as shown in figure B.
Mobile Banking
The Federal Reserve survey defines mobile banking as "using a mobile phone to access your bank account, credit card account, or other financial account. Mobile banking can be done either by accessing your bank's web page through the web browser on your mobile phone, via text messaging, or by using an application downloaded to your mobile phone."
The adoption of mobile banking has increased substantially in the past year. Nearly 28 percent of mobile phone users in the survey report that they used mobile banking in the past 12 months. This is an increase of a third from the 21 percent of mobile phone users who indicated that they used mobile banking in the 2011 survey. Use of mobile banking is substantially higher for smartphone users at 48 percent, up from 42 percent in 2011. The higher incidence of mobile banking adoption among smartphone users suggests that as smartphone adoption increases, so too will adoption of mobile banking.
Among those consumers with mobile phones who do not currently use mobile banking, 10 percent report that they will "definitely" or "probably" use mobile banking in the next 12 months. An additional 14 percent of those who report that they are unlikely to use mobile banking in the next 12 months report that they will "definitely" or "probably" adopt mobile banking at some point. Although the reported adoption intentions of the 2012 survey respondents may not perfectly reflect subsequent behavior, there is evidence that planned use of mobile banking does in fact relate to subsequent adoption.
Using the panel of respondents to both the 2011 and 2012 Board surveys, the reported mobile banking adoption intention over the next 12 months from the 2011 survey is compared to the reported use of mobile banking in the 2012 survey. Of those consumers who reported in December 2011 that they will "definitely" adopt mobile banking in the next 12 months, 45 percent had adopted mobile banking by November 2012. And among those who indicated that they will "probably" adopt mobile banking, 35 percent had become mobile banking users. Conversely, for those who indicated that they "probably will not" and "definitely will not" adopt mobile banking only 9 percent and 5 percent, respectively, had adopted mobile banking by November 2012. In total, 9 percent of those who reported that they were not mobile bankers in 2011 (7 percent of all mobile phone users) reported being mobile banking users by November 2012. However, 19 percent of those who were mobile banking users in 2011 (3 percent of all mobile phone users) reported that they had not used mobile banking in 2012. Among panel respondents, mobile banking usage increased from 21 percent in 2011 to 25 percent in 2012.
The 2011 survey included a group of respondents who indicated that they would "definitely" or "probably" adopt mobile banking in the coming year. For that group of respondents who believed they were likely to adopt mobile banking, the most significant difference between those who actually did adopt mobile banking by the 2012 survey and those who did not was that the adopters were more likely to own a smartphone. In both the panel and cross-sectional data, smartphone users are more likely to adopt mobile banking than non-smartphone users.
Use of mobile banking continues to be highly correlated with age (table 2), although usage among older age groups has increased over the past year. In the 2012 survey, individuals between ages 18 and 29 account for approximately 39 percent of mobile banking users, relative to 22 percent of mobile phone users. The next age group (30 to 44) account for 34 percent of mobile banking users, relative to 27 percent of mobile phone users. Those ages 45 to 59 account for 19 percent of mobile bankers, relative to 27 percent of mobile phone users. Finally, individuals age 60 and over account for only 8 percent of all mobile banking users, but represent 24 percent of all mobile phone users. In 2011, those ages 18 to 29 accounted for 44 percent of mobile banking users, while those ages 45 to 59 accounted for 15 percent and those ages 60 and over accounted for only 6 percent.
| Age categories | Yes | No | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18-29 | 38.6 | 15.1 | 21.5 |
| 30-44 | 33.7 | 24.3 | 26.9 |
| 45-59 | 19.4 | 30.1 | 27.2 |
| 60+ | 8.3 | 30.6 | 24.4 |
| Number of respondents | 571 | 1,709 | 2,280 |
The distribution of other demographic characteristics for mobile banking users has changed little over the past year. Minorities continue to be more likely to adopt mobile banking than non-Hispanic whites. In particular, Hispanic users show a disproportionately high rate of adoption of mobile banking (table 3), at 17 percent of all mobile banking users relative to 13 percent of mobile phone users.
Use of mobile banking remains generally unrelated to household income (table 4), except at the tails of the income distribution. At 17 percent of mobile banking users, those individuals earning less than $25,000 per year are significantly less likely to use mobile banking than their share of the mobile phone user population (23 percent) would suggest. At 28 percent of mobile banking users, those individuals earning more than $100,000 per year are significantly more likely to use mobile banking than their share of the mobile phone user population would suggest (24 percent).
Mobile banking is still highly correlated with education (table 5). Similar to the 2011 findings, 72 percent of all mobile banking users have at least some college education, far more than their 60 percent share of all mobile phone users.
| Race/ethnicity | Yes | No | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| White, non-Hispanic | 63 | 70.4 | 68.3 |
| Black, non-Hispanic | 12.1 | 10.1 | 10.7 |
| Other, non-Hispanic | 6.3 | 5.6 | 5.8 |
| Hispanic | 16.8 | 12.6 | 13.8 |
| 2+ races, non-Hispanic | 1.7 | 1.3 | 1.4 |
| Number of respondents | 571 | 1,709 | 2,280 |
| Income group | Yes | No | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than $25,000 | 16.7 | 25.5 | 23 |
| $25,000-$39,999 | 18.9 | 20.1 | 19.7 |
| $40,000-$74,999 | 20.3 | 18.8 | 19.2 |
| $75,000-$99,999 | 15.7 | 13.4 | 14 |
| Greater than $100,000 | 28.4 | 22.3 | 24 |
| Number of respondents | 571 | 1,709 | 2,280 |
| Education | Yes | No | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than high school | 5.6 | 11.6 | 9.9 |
| High school | 22.3 | 31.3 | 28.8 |
| Some college | 35 | 28 | 29.9 |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 37.1 | 29.2 | 31.4 |
| Number of respondents | 571 | 1,709 | 2,280 |
The most common mobile banking activities continue to be checking financial account balances or transaction inquiries, with 87 percent of mobile banking users having performed this function in the past 12 months, down slightly from 90 percent in 2011 (figure 3). The use of mobile banking to transfer money between accounts has increased by 11 percentage points over the past year, with 53 percent of users now reporting that they had done so in the past 12 months. The share of mobile banking users who receive text message alerts from a bank has declined marginally, from 33 percent in 2011 to 29 percent in 2012. Making online bill payments from a bank account using a mobile phone has effectively remained constant at 27 percent, while locating an in-network ATM increased by 3 percentage points to 24 percent. The mobile banking function that has seen the greatest increase by far is depositing a check by phone, known as "remote deposit capture," which nearly doubled in usage from 11 percent in 2011 to 21 percent in 2012. Nearly half of mobile banking users appear to be using mobile apps to conduct their banking transactions, as 49 percent have installed such applications on their phones.
Note: This was question 28 in the survey (see Appendix 2); number of respondents was 571.
Among mobile banking users, the frequency with which they use mobile banking has increased somewhat over the past year. Although the median reported usage increased only slightly to 6 times per month from 5 times per month in 2011, the share of mobile bankers reporting that they used it more than 10 times per month increased to 35 percent from 22 percent.
Consumers who use mobile banking continue to be satisfied with their experience, although overall satisfaction has declined somewhat since 2011. In December 2011, 62 percent of mobile banking users reported being "very satisfied" with their experiences, and 32 percent reported being "somewhat satisfied" with their experiences. In November 2012, 52 percent of mobile banking users reported being "very satisfied" with their experiences, and 44 percent reported being "somewhat satisfied" with their experiences.
A significant fraction of mobile banking users have only recently adopted the technology. Although the majority of mobile banking users report that they started using it more than one year ago, 18 percent report that they adopted mobile banking in the last six months, and 17 percent report that they adopted mobile banking between 6 and 12 months ago. The finding that just over a third of mobile banking users have started using the technology in the past 12 months is consistent with the 33 percent increase in mobile banking usage observed between Board surveys.
Smartphones consistently appear to be the driving force behind mobile banking adoption, as 37 percent of consumers indicate that getting a smartphone was the main reason they started using mobile banking. This was followed by 30 percent who liked the convenience of mobile banking, and 19 percent who indicated that the timing of their adoption was driven by their bank starting to offer the service.
Among those consumers with mobile phones who do not currently use mobile banking, the main reasons for not using the service are that they believe their banking needs are met without mobile banking (54 percent), that they are concerned about security (49 percent), and that they don't see any reason to use mobile banking (47 percent) (figure 4). Not having a smartphone is cited by 40 percent of consumers as the reason they do not use mobile banking. Less commonly cited reasons include a lack of trust in the technology to process transactions properly (14 percent), the cost of data access on mobile phones (11 percent), and the small size of the mobile phone screen (10 percent).
Note: This was question 40 in the survey (see Appendix 2); number of respondents was 1,709.
Consumers who expressed concerns about the security of mobile banking were asked to specify what aspect(s) were of greatest concern. They reported concerns with hackers gaining access to their phone remotely (30 percent), losing their phone or having it stolen (11 percent), experiencing data interception by a third party (9 percent), companies misusing personal information (3 percent), and malware or viruses being installed on their phone (2 percent). However, the most common response was that they were concerned with all of those security risks (44 percent).
When consumers who don't use mobile banking were asked what mobile banking activities they would be interested in performing if their concerns were addressed, their responses largely mirrored those of current users. Checking financial account balances or recent transactions was the most commonly cited (33 percent), followed by transferring money between accounts (21 percent), depositing checks electronically (17 percent), receiving text message alerts from their bank (17 percent), and making bill payments (17 percent). However, 56 percent of those who do not use mobile banking indicated that they had absolutely no interest in performing any mobile banking activities.
Mobile Payments
The Federal Reserve survey defined mobile payments as "purchases, bill payments, charitable donations, payments to another person, or any other payments made using a mobile phone. Mobile payments can be used by accessing a web page through the web browser on your mobile device, by sending a text message (SMS), or by using a downloadable application on your mobile device. The amount of the payment may be applied to your phone bill (for example, a text message donation), charged to your credit card, or withdrawn directly from your bank account."
Mobile payment continues to have relatively limited adoption. Only 15 percent of mobile phone users report that they made a mobile payment in the past 12 months, up slightly from 12 percent in 2011.
The most common mobile payment activity is payment of bills (42 percent), followed by making online purchases (35 percent), both down slightly in the past year. Mobile payment that involves person-to-person or person-to-business transfer of money has become more common over the past year. Nearly 30 percent of mobile payment users transferred money directly to another person in the past 12 months, up from 21 percent reported for 2011. Fifteen percent received money from another person using a mobile phone, up from 8 percent reported for 2011. Making point-of-sale purchases with mobile phones appears to have become more common, with 9 percent of mobile payment users reporting that they scanned a barcode or Quick Response (QR) code to make a payment and 9 percent reporting that they used a mobile app to pay for a purchase.4
The share of mobile payments users waving or tapping a mobile phone at a cash register to pay for a purchase has more than doubled from the previous survey, going to 6 percent in 2012 from just over 2 percent in 2011. However, the small number of respondents who make this type of payment means that the change in use from 2011 to 2012 is not statistically significant. Using a text message to make a mobile payment, such as a charitable donation, was used by 8 percent of those making mobile payments.
Mobile payments are disproportionately used by younger consumers, and unlike mobile banking, there has been little shift in the distribution of users across ages in the past year (table 6). Individuals ages 18 to 29 account for 38 percent of mobile payment users relative to 22 percent of all mobile phone users, while individuals ages 30 to 44 account for a further 32 percent of mobile payment users relative to 27 percent of all mobile phone users. The rate of usage then falls by half--to 16 percent--for those ages 45 to 59, and even further--to 14 percent--for those ages 60 and over.
Minorities continue to be disproportionately likely to adopt mobile payments; however, the differential adoption by race has diminished in the past year. Non-Hispanic whites account for 62 percent of mobile payment users but make up 69 percent of mobile phone users (table 7). Hispanics account for approximately 16 percent of all mobile payment users relative to 14 percent of all mobile phone users, and 13 percent of non-Hispanic blacks use mobile payments compared to their 11 percent share of the mobile phone user population.
As with mobile banking, the only correlation between income and mobile payment use occurs at the tails of the distribution, with those earning less than $25,000 per year being less likely to use mobile payments than their share of the mobile phone user population would suggest (17 percent of mobile payment users versus 23 percent of mobile phone users), while those earning more than $100,000 per year are more likely to use mobile payments (28 percent of mobile payment users versus 24 percent of mobile phone users) (table 8).
Mobile payment use by education level is roughly proportionate to its representation in the mobile phone user population (table 9).
| Age categories | Yes | No | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18-29 | 38.1 | 18.7 | 21.6 |
| 30-44 | 32.3 | 26 | 27 |
| 45-59 | 15.9 | 29 | 27.1 |
| 60+ | 13.7 | 26.2 | 24.3 |
| Number of respondents | 308 | 1,973 | 2,281 |
| Race/ethnicity | Yes | No | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| White, non-Hispanic | 62.3 | 69.5 | 68.5 |
| Black, non-Hispanic | 13.1 | 10.2 | 10.6 |
| Other, non-Hispanic | 7 | 5.6 | 5.8 |
| Hispanic | 16.3 | 13.3 | 13.7 |
| 2+ races, non-Hispanic | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.4 |
| Number of respondents | 308 | 1,973 | 2,281 |
| Income group | Yes | No | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than $25,000 | 16.7 | 25.5 | 23 |
| $25,000-$39,999 | 18.9 | 20.1 | 19.7 |
| $40,000-$74,999 | 20.3 | 18.8 | 19.2 |
| $75,000-$99,999 | 15.7 | 13.4 | 14 |
| Greater than $100,000 | 28.4 | 22.3 | 24 |
| Number of respondents | 571 | 1,709 | 2,208 |
| Education | Yes | No | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than high school | 10.7 | 9.8 | 9.9 |
| High school | 24.1 | 29.6 | 28.8 |
| Some college | 35.6 | 28.7 | 29.8 |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 29.6 | 31.8 | 31.5 |
| Number of respondents | 308 | 1,973 | 2,281 |
Consumers use a variety of methods to make mobile payments. The most common payment method is a debit card (45 percent), followed by a direct withdrawal from a bank account (40 percent), credit card (33 percent), and prepaid card (7 percent). Only 5 percent report that they had the charge directly applied to their phone bill.
The person-to-business mobile payment platforms appear to be rather infrequently used--only 2 percent of mobile payment users report that they used Google Wallet and 2 percent used Pay with Square. The type of payment system used to make the mobile payment has implications for the consumer protections the payer is afforded on the transaction, as different payment systems are covered by different consumer regulations and regulatory agencies.5
Mobile payments users make relatively infrequent use of the service. The median number of mobile payments in a typical month is two, up from one in 2011. The number of users making more than five payments per month also increased, going to 11 percent from fewer than 7 percent of consumers.
Users of mobile payments appear to be quite satisfied with their experiences, although overall satisfaction has declined slightly in the past year. In 2011, 55 percent reported being "very satisfied" with their experiences, and 33 percent reported being "somewhat satisfied" with their experiences. In 2012, 44 percent reported being "very satisfied" with their experiences, and 49 percent reported being "satisfied" with their experiences.
Of current mobile payment users, 13 percent started using mobile payments in the last 6 months, while 16 percent began using mobile payments 6 to 12 months ago. A further 29 percent report that they started using mobile payments 1 to 2 years ago, and 18 percent report that they began using mobile payments more than two years ago. A significant number of users are unable to recall when they began using mobile payments (19 percent).
The convenience of mobile payments is the main reason most people started using mobile payments (34 percent). As with mobile banking, getting a smartphone is a major driver of starting to use mobile payments (29 percent). The ability to make mobile payments simply becoming available was cited by 14 percent of users for the timing of their adoption, while 10 percent indicated that it was the result of their becoming comfortable with the security of mobile payments.
Among those who do not use mobile payments, the main reasons they have not adopted the technology are concerns about the security (38 percent). However, a substantial number of people see little value or benefit from using mobile payments: 36 percent report that it is easier to pay with other methods, and 35 percent report that they do not see any benefit from using mobile payments (figure 5).
Other reasons respondents cite for not using mobile payments include the lack of necessary features on their phone (30 percent) and a lack of trust in the technology to properly process payments (17 percent). A lack of understanding of the different mobile payment options was cited by 14 percent of consumers, and 9 percent indicated that it was because they didn't know of any stores that allowed payment with a mobile phone.
For those concerned about the security of mobile payments, the aspects of concern largely mirror those reported by those concerned about the security of mobile banking. They reported concerns with hackers gaining access to their phone remotely (29 percent), someone intercepting their payment information (12 percent), losing their phone or having it stolen (10 percent), companies misusing personal information (2 percent), and malware or viruses being installed on their phone (2 percent). As with mobile banking, the most common response was that they were concerned with all of those security risks (46 percent).
When consumers who do not use mobile payments were asked to indicate all the mobile payment activities they would have an interest in using if their concerns about the technology were addressed, 60 percent indicated that they had absolutely no interest in using mobile payments. Of the potential activities of interest, paying bills online using their phone was the most commonly cited (19 percent), followed by receiving/using coupons on their phone (16 percent) and receiving specials and discount offers based on their location (15 percent). There was limited interest in waving or tapping a mobile phone at a cash register to make point-of-sale purchases (13 percent), using their phone as a virtual wallet (12 percent), or using a mobile app to pay for purchases (10 percent). Consumers also expressed some interest in using mobile payments to transfer money to another person in the United States (12 percent) and to friends or relatives in other countries (4 percent).
Note: This was question 43 in the survey (see Appendix 2); number of respondents was 1,973.
All mobile phone users were asked about the likelihood that they would use their mobile phone as a means of payment at the point of sale if the service were available to them. One percent of all mobile phone users already use this technology; an additional 8 percent would be "very likely" to use this type of mobile payment; and 19 percent are "likely" to use it. However, the vast majority of consumers indicated that they would be "unlikely" (27 percent) or "very unlikely" (44 percent) to use their mobile phone to make purchases.
Consumers appear more inclined to believe that mobile contactless payments will become a major form of payment than that they themselves would adopt this technology. When consumers were asked whether they thought that mobile contactless payments will become a major form of payment in the next five years, half of consumers reported that it is "very likely" (15 percent) or "likely" (35 percent).
Mobile Security
One of the main reservations consumers have with adopting mobile banking and mobile payment technologies is concern about the security of the technology. Consumers' perceptions of the security of various mobile banking methods for protecting personal financial information have changed over the past year. But even as adoption of mobile banking has increased, consumers are now more likely to believe the technology to be "very unsafe" or report that they "don't know" whether it is safe.
In 2011, when consumers were asked to rate the security of SMS (text messaging) for mobile banking, approximately 38 percent rated the service "very safe" or "somewhat safe" (table 10). In 2012, the share reporting that SMS was "very safe" or "somewhat safe" declined to 34 percent. The share of consumers indicating that they "don't know" how safe it is to bank with SMS rose from 33 percent in 2011 to 40 percent in 2012.
| 2011 | 2012 | |
|---|---|---|
| Very safe | 8.3 | 10.2 |
| Somewhat safe | 30.1 | 23.4 |
| Somewhat unsafe | 16.4 | 14 |
| Very unsafe | 10.8 | 10.9 |
| Don't know | 33.1 | 40.4 |
| Refused to answer | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| Number of respondents | 2,002 | 2,291 |
Similar changes were observed in the perceptions of the security of using a mobile browser or a bank's mobile app for mobile banking. From the 2011 survey to the 2012 survey, the share of consumers rating mobile browsers as "very safe" or "somewhat safe" declined from 42 percent to 38 percent (table 11). The share reporting that they "don't know" how safe it is to use a mobile browser for banking increased to 36 percent from 30 percent.
| 2011 | 2012 | |
|---|---|---|
| Very safe | 5.6 | 9.8 |
| Somewhat safe | 36 | 27.8 |
| Somewhat unsafe | 18.8 | 15.1 |
| Very unsafe | 7.6 | 9.6 |
| Don't know | 30.2 | 36.4 |
| Refused to answer | 2 | 1.4 |
| Number of respondents | 2,002 | 2,291 |
The share of consumers rating a bank's mobile app downloaded from an app store as "very safe" or "somewhat safe" for protecting their personal financial information also declined, going from 40 percent in the 2011 survey to 35 percent in the 2012 survey (table 12). Here, the share of consumers reporting that they "don't know" how safe the bank's mobile app is increased from 36 percent in 2011 to 41 percent in 2012.
| 2011 | 2012 | |
|---|---|---|
| Very safe | 7.4 | 9.4 |
| Somewhat safe | 32.9 | 25.3 |
| Somewhat unsafe | 15.1 | 13.2 |
| Very unsafe | 6.8 | 9.4 |
| Don't know | 36.1 | 41 |
| Refused to answer | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| Number of respondents | 2,002 | 2,291 |
Despite the decline in the perceived security of individual methods for using mobile banking, the overall perception of the security of mobile banking for protecting personal financial information has remained relatively constant. In 2011, 33 percent of consumers believed that mobile banking was "very safe" or "somewhat safe" at protecting their information (table 13). In 2012, the share rating mobile banking as "very safe" or "somewhat safe" was nearly identical at 34 percent. However, this aggregate figure masks the substantial increase in the share reporting that overall mobile banking is "very safe," which increased from 5 percent in 2011 to 9 percent in 2012.
| 2011 | 2012 | |
|---|---|---|
| Very safe | 5.1 | 9.2 |
| Somewhat safe | 27.8 | 24.9 |
| Somewhat unsafe | 20.7 | 14.5 |
| Very unsafe | 11.2 | 11.5 |
| Don't know | 33.9 | 38.5 |
| Refused to answer | 1.4 | 1.4 |
| Number of respondents | 2,002 | 2,291 |
There continues to be a dichotomy between users and non-users of mobile banking in their perception of the overall security of mobile banking for protecting personal information. Among mobile phone owners who do not use mobile banking, only 2 percent rate the overall security of mobile banking as "very safe," while 15 percent rate it "somewhat safe." Fifty percent of non-users indicate that they "don't know" about the security of mobile banking. Mobile banking users, however, rate mobile banking as "very safe" (27 percent) or "somewhat safe" (52 percent) in maintaining their personal information. Only 9 percent of mobile banking users indicate that they "don't know" how safe mobile banking is at protecting their personal information (figure 6).
Figure 6. How would you currently rate the overall security of mobile banking for protecting your personal information? (By use of mobile banking)
Note: This was question 49 in the survey (see Appendix 2); number of respondents was 571 mobile banking users and 1,709 non-users of mobile banking.
References
4. A QR code is a type of barcode that has become popular in advertising because it can be scanned by mobile phones to direct users to a website where they can obtain additional information on a product, service, or company. Some mobile payment apps display a QR code on the user's smartphone screen that can then be scanned by retailers at the point of sale to pay for a purchase. A mobile wallet allows users to store credit or debit card information and loyalty cards as well as to pay at select merchants using the app. Return to text
5. For further details on how existing consumer regulations relate to the various methods for making mobile payments see Stephanie Martin (2012), Statement before the Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit U.S. House of Representatives (Washington: Federal Reserve Board, June), www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/testimony/martin20120629a.pdf. Return to text
