Growth of mobile banking wasn't surprising given the popularity of smartphones and tablets, as well as financial institutions deploying innovative marketing campaigns. The Monkey Insights report revealed end-user growth increased substantially.

“What we are tracking in our typical credit union is 35, 40% organic growth in the [mobile-banking] channel,” Gaynor explained.

For some credit unions, mobile banking growth is 3% to 4% a month, he added. Gaynor further suggested internet banking usage is leveling off, or in the case of some credit unions, decreasing as mobile escalates.

A relatively novel feature, turning debit cards on and off at the mobile banking site, may be emerging quickly as a key tool. This feature allows an end-user to manage fraud risk by leaving the card off and activating it when needed.

Some have turned their cards off from all activity.

“We see more than doubling of the overall activity — people turning on and off their debit cards,” Gaynor said, adding that on average the feature was used 130% more frequently in January 2015 than in January 2014.

The debit on-off switch is one of Malauzai's mobile card management features controlled by credit union clients. Members can perform any of five tasks: Check their debit card status, turn their debit card on or off, request increased ATM withdrawal and point-of-sale spending limits and notify their credit union when traveling abroad to prevent automatic rejection of transactions due to suspected fraudulent activity.

Between 15% and 18% of active users take advantage of one of those functions each month, according to the Monkey Insights Report.

Gaynor said Malauzai initially thought consumers would use the on-off feature for misplaced cards, but instead found a strong tendency for users to leave the account turned off until they actually need to use the card.

“That was an unexpected behavior that we are seeing quite a bit of,” he said.

Other Monkey Insights report highlights:

• Session Duration Higher in 2014 and Slow Christmas. Overall session duration stayed consistent in 2014, averaging 1 minute 20 seconds. The iPhone average session duration increased throughout the year, ending at close to 1 minute 40 seconds. iPhone users are online longer than their Android counterparts.
• Picture Pay Numbers Increase. The average end-user executed more picture payments in 2014. The average number of payments per month increased by 18%. The average value of the payments stayed consistent at $235 per payment. However, the average monthly number was even higher on iPad, having increased during the year by almost 75%. In addition, iPad end-users made more payments than their smartphone counterparts. The data suggests a trend in which end-users like the larger form of a tablet when making payments.
• Higher Internal Account Transfer Values. The average value of an internal account transfer increased substantially in 2014 from an average of $393 in January 2014 to $475 in January 2015. The number of transfers each end-user made stayed consistent at 3.3 transfers per month.
• Finger Navigation. Using a finger to swipe and navigate around a smartphone or tablet increased by 125% year over year. The data point was interesting, Malauzai said, as end-users might not have even been aware they could swipe a finger to navigate. Over time, the mobile provider reasoned, users discover the option and like it.