Majority of Canadians use financial apps

The majority of mobile owners in Canada (70%) have been using financial apps for the past year, finds a BMO survey.

“The adoption rate among our customers of mobile banking has outpaced even that of online banking, showing the growing appetite for this type of technology for everyday banking needs,” says Dan Dickinson, managing director, Mobile and Online Banking, BMO Bank of Montreal.

Read: A look at the tech sector

While mobile banking apps have surged in popularity, concerns about privacy and security represent the number one reason why some Canadians are avoiding using the technology.

“It’s important that customers do their part — both for online banking and other online transactions — to minimize fraud and protect their information,” says Dickinson.

Read: PriceMetrix offers mobile app This includes choosing strong passwords and changing them on a regular basis, as well as never writing down passwords or PINs.

Additional findings include:

• 72% use financial apps on a weekly or daily basis;
• the most popular tasks using a mobile banking app include checking account balances (55%), reviewing transactions (44%), managing bill payments (41%) and transferring money between accounts (35%);
• while only one-in-five currently have a financial app that provides alerts, 27% say this would be one of the most useful features; and
• younger Canadians have been the quickest to embrace mobile banking technology, with 71% of those under 35 using mobile banking — this compares to 55% of those aged 35 to 44, 40% of those aged 45 to 54, and 26% of those aged 55 to 64.

Read: Fidelity developing investing app for Google Glass

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.