Demand For Safer Online Banking And Shopping Experience To Drive Mobile Banking In Australia
Financial institutions need to better tailor their services to respond to their customers’ everyday needs. Mobile banking has to make life safer, easier, more convenient for consumers.
SYDNEY, Australia — May 31, 2010 — With 13% of
people using mobile banking at least once a week in Australia, local adoption
is on par with other Western countries such as the US (13%), Canada (12% and UK
(15%), but still lagging behind emerging Asian markets, including India (47%)
and China (51%), according to a recent survey by Sybase 365. Sybase 365 is a
subsidiary of Sybase, Inc. (NYSE: SY) and the global leader in mobile messaging
and mobile commerce services.
Despite
relatively low usage figures, 55% of respondents in Australia stated they are
interested in mobile banking services. “The disparity between Australians
finding mobile banking useful in theory and actual uptake highlights the further
growth potential for mobile banking,” said Matthew Talbot, vice president,
mCommerce at Sybase 365. “Financial institutions need to better tailor their
services to respond to their customers’ everyday needs. Mobile banking has to
make life safer, easier, more convenient for consumers.”
With credit
card fraud being today’s most common form of personal fraud in Australia,[1]
understandably security concerns are at the top of Australians’ priority list when
considering mobile banking. 63% of respondents would like to be alerted of potentially
fraudulent transactions on their account, a 10% increase over a 2007 consumer
survey by Sybase 365.
The second most popular service among Australian respondents was the ability to freeze cards with their mobile phone, with 49% of Australian respondents expressing interest in this kind of service.
Other services Australians considered useful included account balance enquiries (43%), alerts for due credit card payments (40%), updates on transactions as well as requests for a call back from customer services with 36% each. Australians are also looking for more advanced mobile banking services, with one third (33%) expressing interest in paying a bill or card by mobile.
“Australia
still has some catching up to do when it comes to mobile banking and payments.
Only if more useful services become more widely available, consumers will
really see the value in the services their bank is offering,” Talbot said. “Our
research shows that security related services rank highest among mobile banking
offerings. Australia’s financial institutions would be well advised to better
utilise the mobile channel for fraud prevention, as well as enhance their
service portfolio for banking on the go.”
Methodology
Global Consumer Acceptance and Usage reports. The research was conducted in 16 countries using an online methodology by Loudhouse Research, an independent market research consultancy based in the UK. At least 250 mobile phone users participated in the survey in each country. Overall, the survey was completed by slightly more than 4,100 mobile users. The countries in the survey were United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, South Africa, Mexico, United States, Argentina, Canada, India, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia.
About Sybase 365
Sybase 365, a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc. (NYSE: SY), is the global leader in enabling mobile information services for mobile operators, financial institutions and enterprises. We provide our customers with the widest offering in SMS, MMS and GRX interoperability, end-to-end mobile commerce solutions, innovative text messaging, mobile marketing and content delivery services. Sybase 365 processes more than 1.4 billion messages per day, reaching 900 operators and 4 billion subscribers around the world. For more information, visit: www.sybase.com/365. Read our blogs: http://blogs.sybase.com
Sybase and Sybase 365 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sybase, Inc. All other company and product names mentioned may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. ® indicates registration in the United States.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this release concerning Sybase, Inc. and its new products, business relationships, prospects and future growth are forward-looking and involve a number of uncertainties and risks. Factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those suggested by these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the performance of the global economy and growth in mobile telecommunications services sales; market acceptance of the company's products and services; customer and industry analyst perception of the company and its technology vision and future prospects; the success of certain business combinations engaged in by the company or by competitors; political unrest or acts of war; possible disruptive effects of organizational or personnel changes. These and other risks are detailed from time to time in Sybase's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q (copies of which can be viewed on Sybase's Web site).
[1] According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, 2008
