In
Italy, where even grandmothers have two cell phones, mobile devices
are now being used for more than checking up on sons and
boyfriends. According to recent research, within three years mobile
banking will be as popular, if not more popular than Internet
banking.
Internet
banking recently saw a surge in Italy, with an average user growth
rate of 11 percent in the past few years. The positive mobile-phone banking
predictions are based on ‘the investments that banks are making [on
mobile banking],’ commented Alessandro Zollo, deputy manager of the
Italian Banking Association (Abi).
Currently,
mobile banking is used mainly for ‘information, such as current
bank balances or data on withdrawals and deposits, and not for
actual deposits and transactions,’ Zollo said. As of yet, the
fact that mobile banking is not as popular as net banking ‘is a
problem of trust [regarding the security of transactions]… the
payment security problems are much more perceived than real,’ he concluded.
