Research finds paperless banking and online bill pay at a standstill

Javelin Resesarch's 9th Annual Online Banking and Bill Pay Forecast suggested online banking has reached its saturation level and predicted sluggish growth for viewing and paying bills through financial institutions' and billers' websites over the next five years. The forecast also found Americans are still hesitant to fully adopt paperless banking and billing due to security concerns.

In addition, the research showed that the largest banks in the country have established benchmarks for online banking, bill pay, adoption of paperless documents and mobile banking. Smaller rivals such as community banks have been forced to upgrade their technology to meet the consumer expectations resulting from these benchmarks. Americans are steadily increasing their demand for self-service channels for banking that provide control, convenience and safety.

Retail banks in the U.K., however, are pushing into mobile banking by means of smartphone apps. According to Finextra, mobile banking will become the next necessity, just as online banking is today. One-fourth of U.K. mobile internet users already use mobile banking services, leading experts to believe the adoption of banking on smartphones will occur must faster than adoption of online banking did.

The biggest concern for both retail and investment banking is security, as consumers consider this the top priority for adoption of mobile applications, the news source reported. However, Finextra predicts within the next year, mobile retail banking will become commoditized and mobile applications will be integrated into corporate and investment banking as well.