Mobile banking is on a steep rise in the US. Almost one-third of online bankers currently conduct banking activities through their mobile handsets, and this population is poised to more than double by 2017. As indicated in our recently published Forrester Research Mobile Banking Forecast, 2012 to 2017 (US), younger age groups (Gen Y and Z) and familiarity with PC banking are fueling thisrapid adoption.

While checking account balances is the most popular activity, receiving alerts is the fastest growing feature; users will triple in the next five years. And with growing consumer comfort, mobile transactions, such as transferring funds from one account to another, will more than double during the same time period.

Exclusively mobile bankers make up a small proportion of online bankers. As our Forrester Research Online Banking Forecast, 2012 to 2017 (US)shows, PC bankers will still dominate the overall online banking market in 2017. However, the growing number of mobile bankers indicates that customers are becoming more device-agnostic with regard to their banking needs. At this moment, digital bankers — online, mobile, or tablet bankers — use predominantly basic account features like account balances and transaction histories and find them important. As adoption of digital touchpoints grows, companies will need to understand how customers use these different touchpoints and move across them — adoption of one digital touchpoint tends to translate into higher usage of all digital touchpoints.