Mobile Banking On The Rise In France

Mobile Banking In France

New research from comScore MobiLens revealed that mobile banking penetration in France is almost 30 percent. In Q2 2016, more than half (54 percent) of the country’s internet users visited online banking sites on a monthly basis, averaging 10 visits per month lasting more than five minutes each time.

The usage of mobile banking accounts is also climbing.

Twenty-nine percent of survey respondents said they used a mobile device to access their bank accounts at least once a month, while 40.8 percent of mobile banking users leverage their bank’s mobile website and a significant 64.9 percent use banking apps.

ComScore’s data revealed that one-third (36.7 percent) of mobile banking users do so at least once a week.

While the French may be warming up to mobile banking, it may be some time before the same can be said for mobile payments.

Earlier this year, a report by CCM Benchmark on digital commerce found that Android Pay and Apple Pay are taking off but at a slow rate. Most of the mobile purchases in France are still via entering credit card details. Just 7 percent of digital buyers in France use their smartphone to tap and pay in a store. There were 27 percent of survey respondents who said they were ready to embrace mobile payments, while 56 percent said they weren’t ready to pay via mobile device.

In July, Apple Pay went live in France, making it the eighth country where the service is now offered as a payments option and the third European country to offer the service after the U.K. and Switzerland. Apple Pay is supported by Visa, Mastercard, Banque Populaire, Carrefour Banque, Ticket Restaurant and Caisse d’Epargne. The service will soon be available on Boon and Orange as well, according to Apple.