ABI: Bank of America leading the mobile banking charge

Mobile financial services are poised to become the next “it” application, according to research firm ABI Research.
“Mobile financial services have the potential to be bigger than mobile TV and premium mobile content in terms of numbers of subscribers,” said senior analyst Mark Beccue. “They have the broadest demographic appeal: almost anybody over the age of 18 is a potential user.”
The company breaks financial services into three segments: mobile banking, mobile domestic person-to-person payments and international person-to-person payments. Mobile banking has major potential in the industrialized world, said ABI, while person-to-person payment applications have the potential to take hold in developing countries.
“Every bank in the world is considering these options,” said Beccue. “It’s a huge growth area. It allows banks to increase customer ‘stickiness,’ to cut costs and automate, and most importantly, to reach the unbanked. They are scrambling for ways to do it.”
ABI said Bank of America has led the market, with more than 1.5 million subscribers to its mobile banking services to date.