Mobile banking overtaking branch use in UK

Britons are expected to bank on smartphones and mobile devices more than all other channels combined within five years after a fourfold increase in weekly mobile activity in the past year.

Current account customers are predicted to use their mobile devices more than internet, branch and telephone banking combined by 2020, according to a report released yesterday by Britain’s banking lobby group.

British bank customers were already logging on via mobile devices 73.8m times a week by the end of March, up from 18.6m times a year earlier and 9.1m times in 2013, said the report by the British Bankers’ Association and consultancy firm EY.

Branches continue to be displaced and there was a 6% reduction in branch transactions across all banks last year compared with 2013, the report said. Some banks have said branch transactions were falling by 10% or more.

The industry shift is prompting lenders to shut down more of their branches and devote increasing resources to mobile banking technology.

“The British public is voting with its thumbs,” said David Ebstein, the head of digital for financial services at EY.

“Being mobile-enabled is a must, not a maybe, and banks that don’t engage properly with mobile channels risk losing relevance in customer’s lives.”

British customers had downloaded 22.9m mobile apps at the end of March, up from 14.7m a year earlier, and customers moved £2.9bn (€4bn) a week using the apps in March, up 42% from 2014 levels, said the annual report.

Banks have said that customers are increasingly checking balances on mobile devices. Royal Bank of Scotland said it had a record 4.9m log-ins on one day alone and Barclays said its app now handles 1,980 log-ins a minute.

The British Bankers’ Association report said that customers were logging on to the internet 66.9m times a week by the end of March, up 10% on a yearly basis.

Reuters