Abi: up 56% of the volume of mobile banking operations, especially payments

From the survey contained in the tenth Annual Report on digital banking carried out by ABI Lab, the Consortium for Research and Innovation for the bank promoted by ABI, it emerges that for the banks interviewed, active customers on Mobile grew by 15% in 2020. Leading the trend are customers who log in from smartphone apps. The total volume of mobile banking transactions also increased by 56%: among these, wire transfers and transfer accounts + 72%. Overall, in the sample under analysis, the PC is still the channel that records the most volumes (173 million transactions in 2020), although Mobile (with 171 million) is getting closer and closer to overtaking. Furthermore, the impact of the pandemic translated into an increase in average monthly accesses for the customer, respectively + 31% for mobile and + 14% for internet banking. For both the Mobile Banking apps and the Internet Banking portals, the study emphasizes a strong focus on functionalities related to payments, in particular instant transfers, already offered by 52% of banks and personal finance management tools (57% already available from the app, 52% from Internet Banking). The strong attention of the banking world for Internet and Mobile Banking is also confirmed in the investment forecasts for 2021: 75% of the banks interviewed reported an increase for Mobile (in 21% of cases a strong increase) and 41% for Internet Banking (8% up sharply). The areas where efforts are channeled the most are the improvement of the user experience, the efficiency of systems and IT security. In the context of digital offer development strategies, collaboration with Fintech companies, already active for 58% of the sample (with a further 13% by 2021), plays an important role. The commitment of the banking world in the fight against computer crimes is further strengthened, through technological safeguards, staff training initiatives and customer awareness campaigns. With this in mind, in further support of this commitment, ABI and 17 consumer associations have sent a letter to the Authority for communications guarantees to request greater coordination in the fight against computer fraud. The ABI, with the support of CertFin, continues to closely monitor the evolution of cyber attacks targeting the banking sector and home banking customers. In these months of emergency, Covid has carried out a series of initiatives aimed at supporting financial sector operators and detecting new possible threats and has organized seminars and meetings, remotely, to provide information and technological insights on the phenomena recently detected, with particular attention reference to phishing campaigns. From the latest Abi Lab study on security, it emerges that most of the banks interviewed indicated an increase in spending for 2021 destined both to the security of remote channels and to the strengthening of the bank’s internal monitoring and protection systems. Cyber ​​security, however, also passes through the collaboration of bank customers. To operate online in a comfortable and safe way, in fact, it is important to follow some simple rules: periodically change the password of email, social networks, internet banking and sites for online purchases; open only emails from known addresses; access the Internet only from your computer; install or update the antivirus; contain the dissemination of personal information online; use different passwords for different sites.