Australian bank customers are among the fastest adopters of mobile banking in the world, according to a recent study. Bain & Co, which carried out the study said mobile banking has overtaken online banking through a desktop computer as the main way for customers to interact with their bank and Australian consumers are leading the charge. The survey reveals that 38% of Australian customers’ interactions with their bank occurred via a smartphone or tablet in 2014, up from 22% in the previous year. This made mobile banking even more common than online banking, which fell from 42% to 355 of customer interactions, says the survey. At the same time, Australian consumers were less likely to visit a branch than customers in other counties. Bain also said this trend may be a threat to leading traditional banks in the country like Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, and ANZ Bank as the high usage of mobile and the lucrative profits earned by the big four act as a ‘bright red target’ to the growing number of technology-based businesses competing with banks in payments and lending.
