Page 23 - Consumers and Mobile Financial Services 2014

March 2014 15

paying bills online using their phone (21 percent), Table 6. How safe do you believe people’s personal
receiving specials and discount offers (20 percent), information is when they use mobile banking? (2012 and
and making online purchases (17 percent). Using a 2013 surveys)
mobile phone at a cash register to make POS pur- Percent, except as noted
chases was of interest to 16 percent, while 13 percent
were interested in using their phone as a virtual wal- 2012 2013
let. Consumers also expressed some interest in Very safe 9.2 6
accepting payments from another person (12 percent) Somewhat safe 24.9 32.1
as well as using mobile payments to transfer money Somewhat unsafe 14.5 25.5
to another person in the United States (11 percent) Very unsafe 11.5 18
Don’t know 38.5 17.2
and to friends or relatives in other countries Refused to answer 1.4 1.3
(4 percent).
Number of respondents 2,291 2,341
Note: The wording of the questions differed slightly from the 2012 to 2013 survey.
All mobile phone users were asked about the likeli- The previous wording of the question was “How would you currently rate the
hood that they would use their mobile phone as a overall security of mobile banking for protecting your personal information?”
means of payment at the POS if the service were
available to them. Among mobile phone users, 6 per-
cent would be “very likely” to use this type of mobile
don’t know how safe it is for protecting their personal
payment and 16 percent are “likely” to use it. How-
financial information. Among all mobile phone users,
ever, the vast majority of consumers indicated that
they would be “unlikely” (30 percent) or “very 25 percent believe that people’s personal information
unlikely” (44 percent) to use their mobile phone to is “somewhat unsafe” when using mobile banking
make purchases in a store. and 18 percent believe that it is “very unsafe.” A fur-
ther 17 percent of mobile phone users simply don’t
know how safe it is to use mobile banking. Only
Consumers appear more inclined to believe that
6 percent said it was “very safe” to use mobile bank-
mobile contactless payments will become a major
ing (table 6).
form of payment than that they themselves would
adopt such technology. When consumers were asked
whether they thought that mobile contactless pay- When mobile phone users were asked how safe they
ments will become a major form of payment in the believe people’s personal financial information is
next five years, more than half of consumers when they use a mobile phone to pay for a purchase
reported that it is “very likely” (17 percent) or at a store, 27 percent said it was “somewhat unsafe”
“likely” (40 percent). This is an increase from the and 19 percent said it was “very unsafe.” As with
15 percent who responded “very likely” and 35 per- mobile banking, there exists significant uncertainty
cent who responded “likely” in November 2012. about the security of POS mobile payments, with
18 percent saying they “don’t know” whether peo-
When those with a smartphone were asked if they ple’s personal financial information is safe when
plan to use their mobile phone to make a payment in making such a payment. The share of consumers say-
a store in the next 12 months, 2 percent said they ing that POS mobile payments are “very safe” was
“definitely will” and 15 percent said they “probably only 4 percent, while 30 percent say that it is “some-
will.” The majority of smartphone users say that they what safe” (table 7).
“probably will not” (44 percent) or “definitely will
not” (38 percent) use their phone to make an in-store
payment. Table 7. How safe do you believe people’s personal
information is when they use a mobile phone to pay for a
purchase at a store?
Mobile Security Percent, except as noted
Very safe 4.3
One of the main reservations consumers express Somewhat safe 29.9
about adopting mobile banking and mobile pay- Somewhat unsafe 26.5
ments is concern about the security of the technol- Very unsafe 19.3
ogy. Despite the increased prevalence of mobile Don’t know 18.3
banking and mobile payments, a significant share of Refused to answer 1.7
Number of respondents 2,341
consumers believe the technology to be unsafe or