Remote deposit capture and internal money transfers are growing, but P2P payments definitely aren't, according to new statistics from Austin, Texas-based financial software company Malauzai.
Only about 12% of all banks and credit unions with mobile apps offer P2P payments in their apps, and just 1.2% of active digital banking users actually chose to make a P2P payment, according to data the company collected for September 2017 from over 435 banks and credit unions.
"Person-to-Person payments are a huge disappointment," Malauzai said in its "Monkey Insights" report published Wednesday. "This makes P2P a low-volume task coming in number 11 in the list of most-used digital banking features. Lots of hype and no results. Zelle, real-time, etc., none of it changes these metrics. The Venmo phenomenon continues to confound us bankers, as clearly it is growing, even if its average transfer value is sub $30. Different type of P2P but way more successful."
Credit union members and other financial institution customers nonetheless still find value in mobile banking, according to the data. The average smartphone user logged into mobile banking 18 times a month and spent a minute and a half per session; desktop logins, on the other hand, were less than half of that at just 8.5 times on average for the month, though those users stayed on for just over five minutes. Members used "quick-balance" features, which let members see balances without performing a traditional login, 37 times on average during the month.
Internal transfers (bill pay, remote deposit capture, P2P and account-to-account) were 70% of all consumer money-movement digital transactions, according to the data. On average, desktop users moved $1,674 each time, which is large compared to iPhone users, who moved just $512 on average.
"Average transfer value for large format (tablets and desktop) is huge!" Malauzai reported. "This is really interesting, people really trust bigger screens."
People also made more monthly deposits remotely. Average deposits using remote deposit capture (RDC) rose to 2.75 checks per user in September — an increase from the typical 2.25 per month, Malauzai said. The average dollar value of those deposits ($592) was about 10% higher than the historical average as well.
"Mobile RDC and internal transfers are hot!" Malauzai Chief Product Officer Robb Gaynor added. "What is surprising to me though is that P2P is a failure, and the usage is very low. [Account-to-account] A2A, however, is up and coming. It is seeing a steady rise in overall usage."
Indeed, A2A transfers, where a member sends money to himself at another financial institution, averaged $1,120 per transaction in September. A full 93% were outbound, the report said.
"A2A is seeing a steady rise in usage averaging 3% of active digital users in September. Yes, that is double P2P. And it is growing where P2P is static," the company noted.
"Clearly, A2A users have more money because they are transferring it out of their bank account. This might be great insight into honing in on these users as I bet they end up holding higher balances too, and would have great profitability. Worth a look, bankers so go check it out," it said.
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