India leads the pack with the youngest population of mobile banking users across the globe, a new research report by KPMG and UBS said.

According to the Global Mobile Banking Report released on Monday, the average age of mobile banking users in India is 30 opposed to 32 in the US, 39 in Europe, 37 in Japan and China, and 35 in Australia.

The number of mobile banking users globally is forecasted to double to 1.8 billion, over 25 per cent of the world’s population, in the next four years, the study found.

Adoption rates

Interestingly, adoption rates are highest in developing countries, reaching to about a 60-70 per cent in India and China, rather than developed nations such as the US, Canada and the UK.

“Banks who do not have clear mobile banking strategies may lose customers and cross-sell opportunities in the short-term, as well as risk jeopardising competitive advantage,” the report said.

The research highlights three key areas for banks to focus on in order to take advantage of the surge in mobile banking — expand mobile banking services, increase collaboration between banks and third-party developers, and invest in security.

Forty per cent of consumers cited concerns about entering card details in mobile devices, and the possibility of losing a handset ranks highly among the list of worries. Hence, banks need to invest heavily in technologies that can evolve and protect against future threats, as well as tackle current pressures from malware and social engineering, it added.

Banks should also explore areas such as virtual support, social media banking and ‘life tools’ such as cloud storage.

This report has been prepared using primary survey data provided by UBS Evidence Lab.

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