Over the last twenty-five years, you’d be hard-pressed to find an industry or individual not affected in some way by the smartphone revolution. With the number of mobile phone users set to rise to 4.68 billion this year, the fact is inescapable; mobiles have changed our society massively.
Banking is no different. With all major banks now offering a range of online services, as well as some moving into even more futuristic offerings, the smartphone has made itself felt.
Banking used to be one of those chores that took at the minimum a phone call and frequently a trip down to the bank itself. Nowadays, you’ve got millennials who’ve only ever set foot in a bank to open the account. Convenience has always been the point of the smartphone and that’s never truer than in mobile banking.
With higher and higher security utilising elements like biometrics, as well as the emergence of 5G on the horizon, mobile banking has totally changed the game, and it looks like it’s not going to stop shaking things up just yet.
Here’s several ways in which smartphones have changed banking for the better.
Simple Convenience
Convenience was always the key point to mobile phones, the ability to call anybody, anywhere, and manufacturers haven’t forgotten their origins. Banking used to be time-consuming, slow and require you to have a whole stack of papers, including statements, letters, etc. No longer.
With modern online banking, almost any task that you need to do can be performed quickly and effectively through online banking. While some banks put huge focus on their online banking apps and websites, others have neglected it, and this has proven to be a major element when it comes to consumer satisfaction.
The Magic of Biometrics
Biometrics, or the science of computing organic data, is all around us nowadays. For years fingerprint scanners, retina readers and facial recognition software was the stuff of sci-fi, but now it comes as standard on every new smartphone.
That’s made for some huge bounds in fast and convenient security. Many smartphones are unlockable through facial recognition, as well as fingerprint scanners, and this is starting to bleed through into online banking.
Banks are starting to look into utilising biometric security measures in their online banking. That means soon, with some banks, all you’ll have to do to send money or check your balance is pass facial recognition software and you’re away.
Smartphones and Banking in the Future
From super-fast 5G internet to AI machine learning, the smartphones of the future are going to be able to provide some unimaginable improvements to online banking. Convenience and speed will always be a priority, so we’re sure to see some pretty spectacular developments on the horizon.