The number of European smartphone users engaged in mobile banking has risen by 40 per cent since August 2010, according to the latest figures from comScore’s MobiLens service.

The comScore figures reveal that 20m mobile users across the five leading European markets (UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy), representing 8.5 per cent of mobile subscribers in these markets, accessed their bank account via a mobile phone in March 2011. Smartphone users accounted for 70 per cent of the mobile banking market in Europe in March 2011. Among all phone users, there has been a 15.4 per cent rise in mobile banking in Europe since August 2010.

During the 3-month period ending March 2011, France boasted the highest penetration of mobile bankers in the EU5, with 10.3 per cent of consumers accessing bank accounts through their mobile phones. Spain ranked a close second with 10.2 per cent penetration, with the UK in third on 8.6 per cent, and Italy in fourth on 7.5 per cent. Germany, which is the largest smartphone market in Europe, had the lowest penetration of mobile banking users, with 6.8 per cent accessing their bank accounts.

In the EU5 region, 8.5 per cent of mobile subscribers overall accessed mobile banking, whilst 5.1 per cent accessed credit cards and 5.2 per cent accessed electronic payments via their mobile device.

In the EU5 countries, nearly two males accessed mobile banking for every one female. Among age segments, 25-34 year olds accounted for the highest percentage of mobile banking users (27.9 per cent), and were also the highest indexing segment (index of 161). Mobile users aged 55 and older showed the lowest relative usage of mobile banking, with an index of 56.

Perhaps not surprisingly, smartphone users accounted for nearly 70 per cent of mobile banking users, despite accounting for just 35 per cent of the total mobile population. Apple users exhibited the highest relative usage of mobile banking (index of 393), followed by Android users (index of 245).

“Consumers want to be able to access information on the go at any time, and with mobile banking becoming more user-friendly through apps and mobile optimized pages, people are gradually becoming accustomed to it”, notes Jeremy Copp, vice president mobile for comScore Europe. “It will be important for service providers, such as banks and credit card providers, to watch this development as it can certainly be seen as an indicator of increased trust in mobile services.”