Telecom Lead Europe: The number of European m-banking
users will grow fourfold over the next 6 years.
The value of transactions of mobile payments will
increase to euro 72.33 billion by 2018.
“The European m-financial services market is poised
to grow due to the proliferation of smartphones,” In 2011, sales of
smartphones accounted for more than 50 per cent of the total handset sales in
the Nordics and Western Europe, and CEE countries are rapidly catching
up,” said Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Mario Fernandez.
SMS-based services currently dominate the market.
However, Internet-based applications will be increasingly important in spurring
growth of the m-banking and m-payments in the short and medium term. In
countries, where the contactless infrastructure is developing, near field
communication (NFC) technology will play a fundamental role in the expansion of
the m-payments market in the long term.
“Collaboration among participants of the telecom,
financial services and IT industries will lead to further growth in the
m-payments market. Similarly, a more proactive approach from banks to exploit
the mobile channel will stimulate the growth of the m-banking market,”
Fernandez added.
However, existing business models and the high
satisfaction of end users with the current means of payments or services
delivered through the bank branches are issues that negatively affect the
development of m-financial services. In addition, mobile financial services are
presently sold under the premise of ‘one size fits all’ and their value
proposition is vague. As a result, end users tend to prefer traditional
channels, such as bank branches or online banking, than the mobile one.
Frost & Sullivan suggests that service providers and
technology vendors should work together in designing highly customized
m-financial services that focus on customer convenience. Leveraging the unique
advantages of mobile devices together with higher customization seems a viable
alternative to deliver true value to end users.
