Aussies ahead, as England dithers...

...mobile banking or The Ashes?

Luckily we’re not talking about the Ashes here.

According to the latest stats, Australian banks are getting more runs on the board than their UK counterparts by recording triple-digit growth in smartphone transaction volumes amid a boom in customer use of mobile banking apps.

National Australia Bank says it has experienced a 200 per cent growth in mobile banking usage since May, The Australian reported. In addition, Commonwealth Bank's mobile banking transactions represent around 9 per cent of all monthly online transactions, and about 10 per cent of ANZ Bank’s customers do their banking on smartphones.

These stats are encouraging as they echo many assumptions that we are hearing in the UK that the estimated uptake of mobile banking will be 10 per cent year on year. What’s more, these figures represent a solid business case for banks in the UK to implement mobile banking solutions.. So why have so many UK banks remained on the fence when it comes to rolling out mobile banking apps?

With ‘lack of internal resources’ cited as a common obstacle to implementation, banks may need to bring in the twelfth man and work with expert third parties to successfully roll out a flexible solutions that can keep pace with rapid changes in technology. Predictions indicate there will be almost 900 million mobile banking users by 2015, so UK banks can no longer afford to take a ‘wait and see’ approach when it comes to the mobile channel. Will 2011 be the year for UK banks to act decisively and roll out mobile banking services?

Interestingly enough, on the cricket side of things, we ARE trumping Australia with the England and Wales Cricket Board (the other ECB!) announcing a new mobile cricket app ahead of next week’s Ashes Test series in Australia!