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Mobile banking transactions will more than double by 2022, while branch visits will dwindle to just four visits each year for the average consumer in the same period.
That’s according to new figures recently revealed by the United Kingdom-based data firm CACI, which further says that customer interactions with their bank will increase by 54 percent in the next five years – largely driven by the continued rise of mobile banking.
“The speed and convenience of mobile banking is a huge contributing factor to its ongoing popularity, especially as banks add more and more functionality to their apps. Understanding who is using it, and how, is key for banks to ensure it works for everyone,” Jamie Morawiec, associate partner at CACI, said in a statement. “However, with more than half of the population still expected to visit a branch in 2022, the branch still has an important role to play. Banks and FIs must ensure that the function of the branch remains relevant, complements the digital channels, and meets the specific needs of the demographics that are using them.”
Banking app transactions will increase by 121 percent, meaning that log-ins, balance checks and payments will more than double. Interactions made using a laptop or desktop will decrease by 63 percent between 2017 and 2022, as more and more consumers switch to smartphones to carry out transactions.
This means that mobile banking, as it has so far, will continue to dominate the agenda for banks and FIs with customers across all demographics increasing engagement with digital channels, the report predicted.
Branch visits are also forecast to drop significantly across a number of demographics, with customers who do use their branch visiting less frequently, and some consumers less likely to use their branch at all.
Households without children will see their visits decline from almost eight a year in 2017, to around three per year in 2022. Those aged 18 to 24 and starting out in life will visit their bank around six times this year, and this again will dip to just two visits annually in 2022.
However, the shift towards mobile banking is not equal across all demographics, and the predicted rise in transactions is partly driven by the adoption of technology by customers who have previously relied heavily on a physical branch presence.
There will be five times more elderly, low income customers using mobile banking in 2022 than in 2017, and consumers aged 50 and over will account for almost a third of all mobile banking log-ins in 2022. This highlights the ongoing trend not only of mobile banking, but of older generations embracing the technology available to make handling their finances simpler.
Additionally, mobile growth will be helped by the shift from online banking to smartphone apps among many customers – 42 percent of high-income professionals will move away from desktop banking in the next five years, and this pattern is the same across the demographic spectrum.
