TowerGroup Take-Aways

• The second phase of mobile banking, which began in the early part of the decade, shows longevity as consumers' needs, network maturity, device sophistication, and advanced technology coalesce into a business case.
• Mobility will revolutionize the way banks interact with customers by enabling timely, relevant, and actionable outreach that will ignite customers' engagement unlike any other channel.
• Because of shifting demographics and customers' expectations for self-service, mobile banking will emerge as an indispensible business asset for banks to retain customers and reach unbanked segments to secure deposit inflows.
• Market segmentation along demographic and socioeconomic dimensions will cement the business case for mobile financial services, taking it beyond channel extension to be a critical engine for business growth.
• With customer bases and payments revenues at risk, bankers should deploy mobile banking to make the channel sustainable and begin climbing the steep learning curve for mobile payments.

Report Coverage

The second phase of mobile banking shows longevity as consumers' needs, network maturity, device sophistication, and advanced technology coalesce into a business case. Strategically, the opportunity of mobile banking extends well beyond just another delivery channel, providing banks with a differentiated way to deliver unique customer value that is not possible through other points of customer interaction. This TowerGroup Research Note examines the way mobile banking strategies will evolve through the end of 2009 as banks move the ball up the field and shift from defensive to offensive plays. Additionally, this Note identifies the next set of compelling mobile banking services that will deliver real and monetized differentiation to banks and discusses ways institutions should use mobility to reach new customer segments such as the youth and ethnic markets.