Preferred banking and payment channels in Latin America 2010-2014
Banking and payment channels in Latin America – additional information
In Latin America, people prefer to avoid the often long lines and wait times at different bank branches and take advantage of the convenience of personal banking via a desktop/laptop computer or via a mobile device. In 2010, 27 percent of people in Latin America still preferred going to a branch of their bank, but in as little as four years, this percentage reduced to only 6 percent. Preference for using ATMs has also dropped from 11 percent to only 4 percent.
As technology shapes the future of payments, there is less and less need for cash and with the rise of technology, there has been a significant increase in mobile banking which has increased from 2 percent to 14 percent. In 2014, only 24.1 percent of the population in Latin America used a smart phone. Therefore, close to 60 percent of smartphone users preferred mobile banking in 2014. As smartphone user penetration increases in Latin America, it is likely that mobile banking will gain preference among a number of users. Already in 2014, it was estimated that 13.37 million Latin Americans were using mobile payment. This was expected to increase to 22.31 million by 2016.