Small-Business Owners More Likely To Use Mobile Banking

Small-business owners represent the best opportunity for financial institutions to grow their mobile-banking services, concludes a report from Boston-based consulting firm Aite Group. "While it's not the most demanded product by small businesses, there has been enough of a shift" in recent years that banks can now market mobile-banking services to them, according to Aite research director Christine Barry. Consumers have not yet embraced mobile banking as a high-demand financial tool, the report states. This creates an opportunity for financial institutions to focus on another segment of their customers, Barry says. "Banks should not be afraid to take it to the next level" and offer mobile-banking services to small-business owners, he says. A survey conducted earlier this year of 200 small-business owners with less than $10 million in revenue found 34% were likely to check account balances on their phones, and 23% of respondents said they were likely to pay bills using their phones About 60% already bank online, and Aite predicts that percentage to increase to 72% by 2010. "Any service that saves time or increases convenience is appealing to [small-business owners]," Barry says.