39% of Italians with mobile devices use mobile banking services today, managing their money via smartphone or tablet, a figure up from 36% last year. Between these 75% say that the use of new channels is able to improve the management of their finances. This is what emerges from the ING International Survey on Mobile Banking 2016 conducted by ING Bank on a sample of around 15.000 savers in 15 countries where ING Bank is present.
Italy is confirmed below the European average of 47%, while the Netherlands (63%), the United Kingdom (55%), Luxembourg (52%) followed by Spain (51%) and Austria (50%) stand out among the countries that use mobile banking the most. However, it stands out among the Italians strong propensity to move to mobile banking in the next 12 months: 24% of compatriots say they are interested in switching to digital banking services via smartphone and tablet in the next 12 months, against the European average of 16% and 10% in Australia and the USA.
The vast majority of those who have chosen to adopt mobile banking believe that it has changed the way they manage money for the better: 75% of Italians and 71% of Europeans think so. With regard to the benefits received from mobile banking, the Italian figure, together with that of Romania (72%), Poland (75%) and Turkey (85%) is above the European average, still at 71%, testifying that the least developed countries on the online banking side are gradually realizing its advantages.
“The first form of savings is the control of one's own resources and awareness of expenses – comments Sergio Rossi, Head of Marketing & Customer Centricity and Chief Innovation Officer of ING Bank Italia – Mobile banking is increasing this awareness, with 75% of savers interviewed who feel more "master" of their personal finances (50%), or are more punctual in payments (23%), even saving more (21%)".
Along with consumer habits change too the payment methods available to them: in Italy, in fact, 66% of the sample declares that they have used much less cash during the last year and 61% declares that they are inclined to use smartphone payments much more. Even taking into consideration new forms of payment such as bitcoins, Italians seem to be very positive, and in 48% of cases they consider them the new frontier of payments. The European view is much more cautious, registering percentages of 33%.
Despite the ease (45%) and speed (53%) found, it still prevails some skepticism towards non-bank payment apps: 75% of those interviewed stated that they trust banks more than groups such as Google and Apple or social media, which in any case recorded a significant increase in the last year: 16% overall compared to 9% last year.
