This year will see an increased demand for digital banking products as customers choose to interact with their banks through mainly digital channels.
This is according to Tjaart van der Walt, MD of GSM mobile technology company, TruTeq Wireless.
TruTeq Wireless is the mobile banking technology partner for Westpac Bank in the Pacific. The duo is currently rolling out a stable and secure mobile banking system across different mobile networks – and in seven Pacific island countries.
Van der Walt says: “Mobile banking has become more and more popular over the past few years, but all indications are that 2015 might be the year that the technology use reaches a new zenith. With this growth, banks are going to have to find ways to ensure that they can provide workable digital platforms for consumers – or else risk losing customers.”
A recent report from PwC – “The New Digital Tipping Point” – points to the possibility that more consumers are using online and mobile channels to access financial products.
PwC carried out research with over 3 000 banking customers across nine developed and emerging markets. The results pointed to the fact that consumers are pushing for innovative digital capabilities to gain access to financial
products. They are also happy to pay for services they believe will provide more convenience and value.
A majority (69%) of consumers surveyed said they currently use the Internet to purchase financial products. Despite the fact that only 33% of respondents currently use mobile technology to purchase financial products, mobile banking is expected to increase with respondents from China, India and the United Arab Emirates heading the trend.
Of particular interest is that 67% of Generation Y consumers –people born in the 1980s and 1990s – currently use, or are considering using, mobile channels for banking.
But while mobile banking is on the increase, security is an ever-present problem – and the scale and sophistication of fraud attacks will grow along with the sheer volume of transactions.
Moreover, confirming the origin and destination of financial transactions over mobile networks has proven to be extremely effective in keeping the levels of fraud down – and hence the costs. However, most of the current methods of
identifying users are rather crude and are not able to detect or prevent spoofing attacks.
