26% use their phones for financial or banking transaction, BuzzCity finds

Discussing the research with The Drum, Dr KF Lai, CEO and founder of BuzzCity explained that the Underbanked were those who do not have ‘traditional’ bank accounts, which could be because there is no local bank nearby, because they don’t feel they have enough money, or because they simply do not want to handle an account.

He added: “For the Underbanked the mobile phone has become, in addition to a communication and surfing device, a necessary banking and payment channel and is filling a gap that the banks cannot meet.”

It is this group that is fuelling the growth of mobile payments: a higher percentage (19 per cent) is using mobile payments for paying bills then those with traditional bank accounts (13 per cent).

Of those who said that they do use mobile banking, balance enquiries (30 per cent), cash withdrawals (28 per cent), and bank transfers (26 per cent) were the most popular tools used. It was also discovered that 13 per cent now use their phones to receive their salaries, and 12 per cent pay for goods via their phones.

Lai added: “Our research is showing a seismic shift in global consumer confidence when it comes to mobile banking, as well as how and what people are using mobile payments for. Mobiles are intrinsically wedded to our daily lives and our research highlights that this now extends to how we bank, whether we are with or without a traditional bank account.”

It was predicted that the next phase of growth for mobile banking and payments will be among the 44 per cent with bank accounts who are not yet using their mobiles for banking.

The research asked 17,000 consumers across 22 countries their attitudes to mobile banking and payments.