Mobile banking is taking off in Norway, with usage in July up 50% compared to the average over the first five months of the year, according to figures from IT services provider EDB Business Partner.
EDB - which claims to supply mobile banking technology to the majority of Norwegian banks - says between five per cent and seven per cent of customers of banks that offer mobile services are using them.
Commenting on the jump in use of m-banking services during July, Ann Merethe Sommerseth, head, mobile banking, EDB, says: "Many people are out and about and travelling during the holiday months, so they do not have access to a PC or their normal Internet banking service, but their bills need paying just the same. This is no longer a problem thanks to mobile banking, and this summer saw a lot of people realise just how useful the new services that mobile banking offers can be."
The most popular m-banking features are balance checks, recent transaction history and fund transfers between accounts.
Sommerseth says like with Internet banking, there will be a rapid take-up of mobile services over the next few years.
"Over the next three to four years we expect to see the majority of banking customers start to make use of mobile banking as an addition to their Internet banking service," says Sommerseth.
Online banking in Norway is now almost universal, with nearly the entire adult population - about four million people - now using it, according to figures released earlier this year from EDB.