Hm, it appears the Brits don’t much fancy mobile banking.
Not that they’re unaware of it. According to industry observer Gill Montia, KPMG’s latest Consumer & Convergence (News - Alert) Report found that UK consumers and businesses are actually “ahead of the curve when it comes to adopting new technologies.”
These are not the technologically faint of heart, these British -- “both online shopping and the use of social media are more widespread in Britain than in other parts of the globe,” Montia says.
When they do indulge in mobile banking, however, they’re generally smartphones owners. According to findings of a survey reported in industry journal “Mobile Marketing Watch,” as of July, roughly 25 percent of smartphone owners in the UK now use their phone for mobile banking.
Still, it’s puzzling that mobile banking is less popular in the UK than elsewhere, with only 27 percent of Brits surveyed reporting that yes, they had used some form of mobile banking in the past six months. For comparison purposes, globally 52 percent of people have.
It’s certainly not because they hanker for that famed British customer service, so what could it be? The KPMG report identifies “concerns over the potential for credit card information to be intercepted by an unauthorized party” is the reason given by 66 percent of survey respondents, and “the threat of unauthorized parties accessing personal information” was the reason of 62 percent, although this reporter wouldn’t be shocked if there were quite a bit of overlap between those two groups.
Still, such concerns exist anywhere in the world mobile banking is used. Are Brits more paranoid than the rest of us?
Actually they may be a bit more sensible. KPMG’s head of technology, Tudor Aw, said the research reveals that when Brits are buying products or services, “the majority of UK consumers consult feedback and ratings pages on the Internet, or gather information on social networks such as Facebook (News - Alert) and Twitter.”
An eminently sensible step, to be sure. And Brits are increasingly willing to accept the tradeoff of having their online activities tracked if they get lower cost items or free content, Aw said.
David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.Edited by Carrie Schmelkin
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