More than 68% of survey respondents across 17 markets have yet to use mobile financial services, a new survey shows.
Conducted by analyst and consultancy firm Ovum on behalf of Amdocs, the survey focused on both users and non-users of mobile financial services worldwide.
For the survey, 8,500 consumers were surveyed in 17 countries across emerging and mature markets - India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, the UK, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, South Africa, and Ghana.
According to survey findings, there remains a lack of market awareness, alongside misconceptions about mobile financial services. The majority of survey respondents either do not use mobile payments or financial services applications, or are unaware of them.
This is more pronounced in emerging markets (73%) compared to mature markets (62%). Meanwhile, 31% of respondents in emerging markets said that they were unaware of mobile payments or financial services, with this figure being lower in mature markets (23%).
A third of respondents in emerging markets and 30% in mature markets said that they were aware but had no plans to use the services. Respondents who have downloaded the application or subscribed the service but still don’t use it showed similar trends in mature (9%) and emerging (8 percent) markets.
Savings, loans, insurance and payment solutions for medical treatment and education services are expected to drive the next level of growth in mobile financial services. 25% of respondents in emerging markets said they’re likely to adopt advanced mobile financial services products – savings, loans, and insurance – in the next year, compared to 16% in mature markets.
Increased security was identified as the most important factor for driving adoption in both mature (40%) and emerging (39%) markets. The preference for low transaction charges and fees show a similar trend in both mature and emerging markets (30%).
What is perhaps more surprising is that almost a third of respondents in both mature (30%) and emerging (29%) markets would adopt the services if they were easier to use, illustrating the fact that ease of use is still an issue.
One third of the mature market respondents (30%) would use mobile financial services if they were offered rewards, compared to 25% in emerging markets. A quarter of the respondents in both mature (24%) and emerging (25%) markets said they would use mobile financial services if they could use them anywhere, and at any time.