The latest Digital Dashboard from Halifax focuses on the different ways desktop computers and mobile devices are being used by customers to manage their money; with women way ahead of men when it comes to managing their money on the move.
The data shows that it could well be a case of ‘Desktops Dads’ vs. ‘Mobile Mums’, with men most likely to be logging in to online banking via desktop (64% vs 58% of women) and women are most likely to be logging in via a tablet (30% vs 23% of men). When it comes to smartphones, women and men are equally as likely to use, but women are more likely to be accessing their accounts while they’re on the go, checking their finances 16 times a month on average (vs 14 for men).
Regionally, while there is a relatively consistent picture across the UK, customers in Scotland are the most likely to use desktops (67%) and tablets (30%) to log in, while Londoners are leading the way logging in via their mobiles (69%). Londoners are, however also the least likely to use a tablet (22%) with those in the South West least likely to use mobile (58%) and the North East least likely to use desktop (56%).
In terms of age, 18-24 year olds are the group most engaged with their finances, accessing online banking via their mobiles an average of 17 times a month. Mobile banking reduces in likelihood and levels of engagement as age increases however, even amongst those in the over 70s group, one in ten (12%) people are logging in an average of six times per month. Overall the frequency of customer log-ins has increased significantly in the last year, with the number of times Halifax customers visited the bank online up 24% on December 2014. This is equivalent to 61.6 million digital visits.
Nick Williams, Consumer Digital Director, says: “Online we’re continuing to see customers moving towards managing their money in the ways that they find most convenient. Because of the ease of logging in through apps, we expect to see continued growth in people banking via mobile devices – particularly smartphones – with a further move away from desktop as adoption increases amongst older generations.”
The last quarter of 2015 also saw a shift on the devices being used to make payments. 79% of all payments for Halifax customers were done digitally, 62% of which were completed via a mobile. This method is up 11% year on year, in contrast to the number of payments being made on desktop which has fallen by a similar amount (9% year on year).