Some 43% of US adults with a mobile phone and bank account surveyed in 2015 by the Federal Reserve report having used mobile banking in the year prior to the survey, according to the Federal Reserve’s latest annual report [pdf] on the topic. Mobile banking use increased across age groups, reaching two-thirds of 18-29-year-olds and almost 1 in 5 adults aged 60 and older.
Hispanics (56%) again led all races and ethnicities in mobile banking use, as they have for several years.
Among mobile banking users, the following activities were the most commonly performed during the prior 12 months:
- Checking an account balance or recent transactions (94%);
- Transferring money between bank accounts (58%); and
- Receiving an alert (e.g. a text message, push notification, or email) from a bank (56%).
Meanwhile, the use of mobile payments use also increased again this past year, rising to almost one-quarter (24%) of respondents with a mobile phone. While that was a slight increase from the prior year (22%), the report cautions that the figures are not directly comparable due to a question change in this latest iteration.
Nevertheless, this time it was the 30-44 age bracket leading the way, as almost one-third (32%) of mobile phone users in this group said that they had made a mobile payment during the preceding 12 months. The 18-29 bracket (30%) was close behind, with slower adoption seen among the 45-59 (20%) and 60+ (13%) groups.
Once again, minority groups outpaced non-Hispanic whites in mobile payments use.
Among those who had made a mobile payment, the most common form was paying a bill using the device’s web browser or an app (65%). About one-third had made an in-store payment using their phone or an app instead of cash or a physical payment card, which translates to about 8% of mobile phone users overall. Finally, one-quarter of mobile payment users had sent money to relatives or friends within the US using Venmo, PayPal, their bank’s app, or some other method.
About the Data: The Federal Reserve data is based on a survey of 2,510 US adults (18+) fielded by GfK from November 4-23, 2015. More details on the methodology can be found in the study, which can be accessed here [pdf].
