Budgeting bank account provider thinkbanking wanted to measure how people were accessing its website and found that the number of visitors on mobile devices increased by 497% in just 12 months, with most visits from iPhones.

This reflects a growing interest in mobile-optimised banking, which could grow even more in the future as bank account providers innovate more to meet the demand.

Mobile banking is a relative latecomer to the mobile revolution – a space that’s been largely inhabited by other internet activity, like social media. But bank account providers are catching on.

iPhone leads the way

Most mobile visitors visited thinkmoney with an iPhone, but Androids and iPads arecatching up. Growth in iPhone visitors to thinkbanking.co.uk over 12 months was only 266%, whereas Android phone / tablet visits grew by 518% and iPad visits by 909%.

Compare that with the number of people visiting from a laptop or desktop. Visits from Macs and PCs (including laptops) only grew by 137%, suggesting that people are relying more and more on their mobile devices for things that you could have only previously done on a computer, or in person.

Visits to this bank account provider’s site were up 161% overall between May 2011 and May this year, with visits from mobile devices growing three times as quickly (497%).

Mobile banking in the future

Banks are introducing more and more technology to reflect the demand of customers. Looking to the future, it’s hard to imagine that demand dying down.

However, online security is often seen as a challenge for financial services and many have been reluctant to bank on their phone because of fears about security. It’s the role of the bank account providers to reassure account holders, but at the same time there’s a lot individuals can do to educate themselves about staying safe online too.

And as more and more people in the UK become accustomed to other ‘money’ activities on their mobile devices, like contactless payments, all-round ‘banking on mobile’ is likely to become more popular.

Ian Williams, the Head of PR and Communications at thinkbanking, thinks that we’ll see more people banking on their mobiles in the future. He commented:

“Recent research indicates that a quarter of mobile internet users already manage their bank account this way, and we’d expect the numbers to rise before too long.”