Mobile phones have increasingly become tools that consumers use for banking, payments, budgeting, and shopping. Given the rapid pace of developments in the area of mobile finance, the Federal Reserve Board began conducting annual surveys of consumers’ use of mobile financial services in 2011. This 78-page report, “Consumers and Mobile Financial Services” (March, 2015) examines trends in the adoption and use of mobile banking, payments, and shopping behavior and how the emergence of mobile financial services affects consumers’ interaction with financial institutions.
Research: Smartphone Banking Security
Javelin Strategy Research has release a new report entitled: “Smartphone Banking Security: Mobile Banking Utilization Stalls On Consumer Fears.”
Mobile banking adoption has stagnated despite explosive growth in smartphone adoption from 2009 to 2011.
In 2009, one in four smartphone owners considered mobile banking unsafe. One year later, 40% of smartphone owners felt the same way.
As financial institutions push forward, offering innovative and convenient financial options to a new mobile generation, consumers are left questioning whether security was sacrificed in the rush toward innovation. In the context of the recent infiltration of malware into the Android Market, it is imperative that FIs reassure consumers that mobile security is a priority.
Primary Questions
- What is the rate of smartphone adoption?
- What is the growth rate of mobile banking and purchasing?
- What are some factors that are inhibiting the adoption of mobile financial activities?
- How can FIs encourage mobile financial activity?
For more information please click on:
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/product/704e3c/smartphone_banking_security_mobile_banking_u
Methodology
For this report, Javelin gathered data from three different surveys administered in 2010 – 2011. Each survey collected data from a base of 3,000 to 5,000 consumers, representative of the general U.S. population. They were interviewed on a range of topics including, but not limited to, fraud, security services, and technology adoption.
- For questions answered by all 5,102 consumers in the March 2011 Financial Services Channel survey, the margin of error is &Plusmn;1.37 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The margin error is higher for questions answered by subsegments. For longitudinal comparison, data from 2009 and 2010 was reweighted to the latest census targets according to the U.S. Census Current Population Survey (CPS).
- For questions answered by all 5,211 consumers in the March 2010 Financial Services Channel survey, the margin of sampling error is &Plusmn;1.39 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
- For questions answered by all 3,100 consumers in the July 2010 Mobile survey, the margin of error is &Plusmn;1.76 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
Audience: Financial institutions, mobile banking and marketing departments, credit card networks, credit card issuers, payment processors, mobile banking vendors, mobile payment vendors, mobile network operators, authentication technology vendors, authentication platform vendors.
For more information please click on:
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/product/704e3c/smartphone_banking_security_mobile_banking_u
Title Index:
– Overview
– Methodology
– Executive Summary and Recommendations
– Smartphone Adoption
– Stagnation of Mobile Financial Activities
– Security Concerns with Mobile Banking
What is a Killer App?
– Consumers Prefer Mobile Optimized Browser Sites
– Companies Mentioned
Table of Figures
– Figure 1: Smartphone Ownership, 2009 – 2011
– Figure 2: Consumers Who Have Mobile Banked in the Past 90 Days by Primary Bank
– Figure 3: Mobile Banking Use by Smartphone Users, 2010 – 2011
– Figure 4: Purchases Made via Mobile Devices by Smartphone Users, 2009 – 2010
– Figure 5: Smartphone Owners’ Perception of Mobile Banking Safety, 2009 – 2010
– Figure 6: Smartphone Owners’ Perception of Mobile Banking Channels, 2009 – 2010
For more information please click on:
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/product/704e3c/smartphone_banking_security_mobile_banking_u
Smartphone Banking Security: mBanking Susceptible to Consumer Fears
According to Research and Markets, mobile banking adoption has stagnated despite explosive growth in smartphone adoption from 2009 to 2011, and the company attributes the slowdown to consumer fears over mobile banking security.
In 2009, one in four smartphone owners considered mobile banking unsafe. One year later, 40% of smartphone owners felt the same way. As financial institutions push forward, offering innovative and convenient financial options to a new mobile generation, consumers are left questioning whether security was sacrificed in the rush toward innovation.
In the context of the recent infiltration of malware into the Android Market, the company notes that it is imperative that FIs reassure consumers that mobile security is a priority.
Research and Markets has announced the release of a new Javelin Strategy & Research report entitled “Smartphone Banking Security: Mobile Banking Utilization Stalls On Consumer Fears.”
Primary questions covered:
- What is the rate of smartphone adoption?
- What is the growth rate of mobile banking and purchasing?
- What are some factors that are inhibiting the adoption of mobile financial activities?
- How can FIs encourage mobile financial activity?
Companies Mentioned:
- Apple
- Bank of America
- BB&T Bank
- Chase
- Citibank
- Citizens
- Fifth Third Bank
- HSBC
- IBM
- Key Bank
- Microsoft
- PNC
- Regions
- RIM
- SunTrust
- TD Bank
- US Bank
- USAA
- Wachovia
- Wells Fargo
More information: Smartphone Banking Security: Mobile Banking Utilization Stalls On Consumer Fears
Source: Business Wire
Many Mobile Banking App’s Not Secure, Says viaForensics
On the heels of the news of PayPal’s vulnerable iPhone application, The Wall Street Journal broke news of additional vulnerabilities in other major financial institutions’ smart phone applications. These security flaws were uncovered by computer and mobile forensics firm, viaForensics, who tested smart phone applications from Bank Of America, Chase, TD Ameritrade, USAA, Wells Fargo and Vanguard, in addition to PayPal.
viaForensics has been communicating and coordinating with the financial institutions to address the flaws. Most of the institutions were able to quickly resolve the issues and release new versions of their applications.
According to American Banker 25% of the mobile banking programs analyzed received a poor rating: ” In most cases, these failures occurred because testers were able to recover a user password or other sensitive user data from a user’s mobile device. In some cases, the apps cached a security PIN or a user name and password. In other instances testers were able to recover payment history, partial credit card numbers and other transaction-related data. About a third (31%) of mobile banking apps received a “Warn” grade because a user name or app data was present, but not considered a significant risk to the user. The remaining 44% of mobile banking apps passed the test.”
viaForensics has retested the applications and released the results through appWatchdog, a free service which tests publicly available mobile applications for insecure transmissions or storage of sensitive user data. The service measures such factors as how securely the app handles user names and passwords. If not handled properly, security lapses can place the user at risk for data and financial theft. A deeper audit is offered through appSecure, which provides sophisticated security testing and recommendations for securing the app.
Sources: viaForensics, American Banker