Few would question that mobile phones have had a considerable influence in our everyday activities. They provide a level of convenience and connectivity that also generates benefits to our personal safety and the security of our banking accounts and other assets. The Pew Research Center estimates that almost two-thirds of adults in the United States own a smartphone and 15 percent use them as their primary online access device either because they do not have broadband access at their home or have few other online options.
In recent blogs, I highlighted some key findings from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors' recently released Consumers and Mobile Financial Services 2016 report. The report includes a section of questions that probe how consumers use their mobile phones in financial decision making. Within the past year, 62 percent of mobile banking users with smartphones responded that they checked their balance before they made a large purchase. The power of that information is demonstrated in that for those who checked their balance or available credit, half didn't make a purchase as a result of having that information.
Forty-five percent of smartphone owners use their phone for comparison shopping at retail stores. Forty-one percent reported they use their phones to obtain product information while shopping at retail stores, and 28 percent use a barcode scanning application for price comparisons.
Though smartphone owners value the convenience phones bring to financial decision making, security and safety are primary concerns. A little more than half of the mobile banking users take advantage of the feature of receiving some type of alert from their financial institution. The most common alert cited was for a low balance, but 36 percent reported they also receive fraud alerts.
Later this year, a number of the Federal Reserve districts, including the Sixth District, will be conducting a survey of the financial institutions in their districts about the mobile banking and mobile payments services they offer. The Sixth District participated in this effort in 2014; you can find the results here. It will be interesting to see the changes that have taken place over the last two years, especially in light of the launch of the various mobile wallets, so stay tuned.
By David Lott, a payments risk expert in the Retail Payments Risk Forum at the Atlanta Fed