Only a small portion of U.S. consumers are banking via mobile phone, but that group is starting to grow to become a measurable presence, according to a new study from Nielsen. The research firm found that 13.2 percent of households accessed their bank account through a mobile device in second quarter 2010 compared 20.8 percent who accessed their account using the bank’s customer service call center. The mobile share is up from 11.6 percent in first quarter while call center access has remained relatively flat quarter-over-quarter.
Mobile bankers tend to higher average balances ($64,303) versus ($48,384) for the average customer and greater net worth ($341,017) versus their online banking counterparts ($313,346) or the market average ($281,263). Nielsen identifies the largest proportion of people banking through cell phones as “mobile office workers”, who are aged 35 to 54 and also the largest smartphone-owning group.
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