British mobile banking boom continues with fourfold increase

LONDON, June 15 (Reuters) - Britons are expected to bank onsmartphones and mobile devices more than all other channelscombined within five years after a fourfold increase in weeklymobile activity in the past year.

Current account customers are predicted to use their mobiledevices more than internet, branch and telephone bankingcombined by 2020, according to a report released on Monday byBritain's banking lobby group.

British bank customers were already logging on via mobiledevices 73.8 million times a week by the end of March, up from18.6 million times a year earlier and 9.1 million times in 2013,said the report by the British Bankers' Association (BBA) andconsultancy firm EY.

Branches continue to be displaced and there was a 6reduction in branch transactions across all banks last yearcompared with 2013, the report said. Some banks have said branchtransactions were falling by 10 percent or more.

The industry shift is prompting lenders to close morebranches and devote increasing resources to mobile bankingtechnology.

"The British public is voting with its thumbs. Beingmobile-enabled is a must, not a maybe, and banks that don'tengage properly with mobile channels risk losing relevance incustomer's lives," said David Ebstein, head of digital forfinancial services at EY.

British customers had downloaded 22.9 million mobile apps atthe end of March, up from 14.7 million a year earlier, andcustomers moved 2.9 billion pounds a week using the apps inMarch, up 42 percent from 2014 levels, said the annual report.

Banks have said that customers are increasingly checkingbalances on mobile devices. Royal Bank of Scotland saidit had a record 4.9 million log-ins on one day alone andBarclays said its app now handles 1,980 log-ins aminute.

The BBA report said that customers were logging on to theinternet 66.9 million times a week by the end of March, up 10percent year on year. (Reporting by Steve Slater; Editing by David Goodman)