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Johannesburg - More than a quarter of South Africa's banking customers are choosing to use their cellphones to bank, a testament to the country's high mobile penetration which is sitting at more than 114%.
A study has found that 16% of banking customers in South Africa use the internet, whereas 28% use their cellphones.
"It is encouraging to see that not only in FNB [First National Bank] but across the country cellphone banking is now part of people's lives," said FNB mCommerce CEO Len Pienaar.
The study found consumers mainly use cellphones to check their bank balances, followed by receiving banking notifications and buying airtime. To a lesser extent, they use their cellphones to pay accounts, transfer money between accounts and make purchases such as flowers and movie tickets.
This second phase of the Mobility 2009 study was conducted by market researchers World Wide Worx and funded by FNB and Research in Motion (RIM). It is being conducted in four phases, with the first phase having looked at the use of mobile technologies by small and medium enterprises.
Still some security concerns
"The fact that services like cellphone banking are taking off so strongly shows that consumers no longer see their cellphones only as voice and text messaging devices, but use them stay in touch with everything that matters in their business and personal lives," said regional director for sub-Sahara Africa at RIM Deon Liebenberg.
The study also showed that banking clients have some security concerns regarding cellphone banking, with only 8% adding beneficiaries via their cellphone.
"Our research shows that South Africans are becoming comfortable with cellphone banking, but precisely half of general banking customers are still nervous of it, citing trust as their major concern," said World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck.
He said this concern must also be seen in the light of 34% of users saying they do not known how to use the service.
At the same time, two-thirds of cellphone banking users were satisfied with the security of the channel. This suggested that once customers start using the facility, they grow increasingly confident both in security and usability.
- Fin24.com