Mobile banking is hot everywhere right now as reports keep coming in that demonstrate the fact that the mobile banking trend is only just its infancy.

Mobile banking, also known as M-banking and SMS banking, refers to the process of monitoring account transactions, payments, credit applications and other banking transactions through a mobile device such as a mobile phone or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). While the earliest mobile banking services were offered over SMS, with the introduction of the first smartphones with WAP support, the platform was able to expand significantly.

Recent reports indicate the U.S. is not the only country that is hopping aboard this trend, as Canada is slowly seeing a surge in mobile banking. A recent survey noted that 38 percent of Canadian smarpthone owners use a banking app.

Moreover, a report released by comScore (News - Alert) –which is based on March 2011 statistics – indicates that 12.3 percent of Canadian mobile subscribers, a number that is just over 24.5 million, have accessed banking, credit card, insurance or brokerage account information from their device. This means that about 3,013,500 people are using mobile banking.

In addition, 77.5 percent of mobile banking relies on smartphones; 43.2 percent on Apple (News - Alert); 22.2 percent on RIM; and 5.1 percent on Google. The TD Bank app captures the most market share with 26.7 percent of users; coming in a close second is RBC with 25.7 percent.

It’s no surprise that Canadians are enlisting the help of their phones to complete financial transactions, particularly as reports start flooding in about the benefits of mobile banking. Recently, Bankrate (News - Alert) published an article detailing the five main reasons to use mobile banking services, a trend that is taking the tech space by storm as more than 45 million people are expected to use mobile banking services by 2014 according to Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert).

Among the reasons were: more ways to access accounts, better security, more convenience and no fees.