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Every so often, we see a survey on mobile banking. It’s been introduced on certain carriers for certain banks, but it hasn’t really caught on in the mainstream yet. Many people still harbor security fears concerning the Internet in general, and combining it with a cell phone spells worse trouble. Really, I don’t blame them. If you lose your cell phone, you can be really prone to identity theft. But it seems that users are starting to get over their fears, as a recent poll finds an increasing number interesting in mobile banking.

Now, only 16 percent of mobile phone users currently use mobile banking services. Of course, a larger number might if you could get any bank information from any carrier. The better news about this 16 percent is that 60 percent of them said they use the service at least once a week. So it is proving useful.

An additional 35 percent of respondents say they’d be open to banking from their phone. This is about the number that said they’d like to receive text alerts from their bank. Twenty percent said they’d like to have their phone be a “mobile wallet,” where they could pay for goods and services everywhere just by hitting a few keys.

This is good news for the mobile industry. I know I’m on board for mobile banking, but am prohibited by my bank and provider from doing so. It’s especially helpful for people like me, who have a number of accounts sitting around, and frequently transfer funds among them.

Of course, we’ll have to get past those security issues first.

[United Press International]

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