Mobile banking uptake increasing, despite risks

Stuart Sumner, Computing, Tuesday 3 August 2010 at 17:52:00

The adoption of mobile banking has exceeded expectations, despite the threat
of cyber crime

The latest research conducted by Sybase 365, a mobile commerce provider for
financial institutions, shows that demand for mobile banking services has
exceeded forecasts.

Some 30 per cent of mobile users currently use banking services on their
mobile device, far exceeding predictions made in 2008 by xx
that it would be just 16 per cent.

These findings echo the opinion of Jerome Svigals, director of the Smart Card
Institute, speaking at a recent webinar on
Retail
Banking 2020.

?There will be a dramatic increase in the use of [mobile] self-service in the
banking industry. We?re starting to see the demise of face-to-face banking,?
Svigals said.

However, a report from analyst Ovum warns that mobile banking will
increasingly be
threatened
by malware.

Graham Titterington, principal analyst at Ovum, said: ?Mobile networks may be
intercepted either by breaking the wireless encryption mechanism or by hacking
into the wired backbone of the network where encryption is not mandatory under
telecommunications standards.

"IT malware that compromises back-end servers, but is harmless in the
wireless environment, may be passed through the mobile banking interface,? he
said.

The research surveyed over 4,100 mobile phone users across the globe and
found that the mobile phone market has matured significantly in the past three
years.

The main findings show that mobile phones have evolved from being simple
telephone communication devices to becoming life management tools, entertainment
systems and virtual wallets. Almost half of all mobile users use their handset
to access the internet every week.

Full story at http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2267557/mobile-banking-uptake