More Small Banks Embrace Mobile, But Customer Usage Lags

Despite slow adoption by consumers, more community banks are offering mobile banking, according to a new survey.

The Independent Community Bankers of America said 37% of community banks offer mobile banking, compared to 15% in 2010. An additional 44% say they plan to offer the service within the next two years.

The results were part of the ICBA’s 2012 Community Bank Technology Survey. The group sent the survey out to 7,000 banks and received 530 responses, according to the report.

Of those who offer mobile banking, 57% do so through a downloadable application, compared to 13% in 2010.

Still, customer usage remains low, with an average of 8% of consumers using the product and 5% of businesses.

Just as they did in the 2010 survey, 82% of those polled identified complying regulation as their top technology concern.

The survey also found that 81% of community banks offer paperless statements, but more than half of those banks say that less than 20% of their customers use the service. Additionally, 96% of banks said they offer online banking. Of the remainder, 3% say they plan to offer it in the next two years, while the final 1% said they have no intention of doing so.

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