Survey: 82% of Banking Customers Log In to Mobile Every Week

Consumers in the Bank of America Trends in Consumer Mobility Report said their smartphone was as important to them as their car and deodorant.

Mobile is so important to customers’ everyday lives that only the internet and personal hygiene were rated as more important by consumers surveyed in the newly released Bank of America Trends in Consumer Mobility Report. Mobile was rated as “very important” to everyday life by 91% of the 1300 consumers surveyed, tied with a car and deodorant for the most important item, and ahead of television (76%) and coffee (60%).

Younger consumers rated their smartphone as even more important to their everyday lives, with 96% calling it “very important,” ahead of their deodorant and toothbrush. (Yikes.)

That importance is reflected in consumers’ banking lives, the survey found. Almost one-third of the consumers surveyed said that they log in to mobile banking everyday, and 82% said they log in at least once a week.

[For More on Mobile, Check Out: Bank of America’s Marc Warshawsky on the Future of Mobile]

Even as more transactions move to digital channels, the branch still has a place in the banking lives of most consumers, according to the survey. While only 23% of the respondents said they complete most of their transactions at a branch, 84% said they have visited a branch in the last six months. Younger customers were just as likely to visit a branch, with 83% of those surveyed between the ages of 18-34 saying they’ve visited a branch in the last six months.

Consumers also showed some level of comfort with new biometric security measures that are taking hold in mobile banking, according to the survey. More than half (60%) of those surveyed said they would be comfortable with a fingerprint scan for accessing their mobile banking app, while 32% said they would be comfortable with a retina scan and 33% for voice recognition authentication.

Jonathan Camhi has been an associate editor with Bank Systems & Technology since 2012. He previously worked as a freelance journalist in New York City covering politics, health and immigration, and has a master's degree from the City University of New York's Graduate School ... View Full Bio