The number of people in South Africa banking from their mobile phones has exceeded those people banking from their PCs, market research organisation World Wide Worx said on Tuesday.

The consumer phase of its Mobility 2009 research project found that more than a quarter of bank customers have turned to their mobile phones for services ranging from informational transaction types such as balance enquiries to financial transaction types which include account payments.

First National Bank (FNB), and Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind the BlackBerry solution, backed the study.

"It is encouraging to see that not only in FNB, but across the country, cellphone banking is now part of people's lives," said Len Pienaar, CEO of FNB mCommerce.

The Mobility 2009 study is being conducted in four phases, with the first three looking at the use of mobile technologies by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Consumers and Corporations, and the final phase exploring the Mobile Internet.

In the second phase, announced today, it was revealed that, while 16% of banking customers in South Africa use the internet for banking, 28% use their mobile phones.

A total of 34% of banking customers use one or both of these channels. Outside of the branch and ATMs, only 6% relied exclusively on the internet, while 18% depended on mobile phone banking.

"The fact that services like cellphone banking are taking off so strongly shows that consumers no longer see their cellphones only as voice and text messaging devices, but use them stay in touch with everything that matters in their business and personal lives," said Deon Liebenberg,

regional director for sub-Saharan Africa at RIM.

The study revealed that the main services driving mobile phone banking were balance enquiries and notifications of transactions, with three-quarters of mobile phone bankers using these features.

Just under half view statements on their mobile phone, 35% transfer between accounts, and 28% pay accounts on their mobile phone. In contrast, only 8% add beneficiaries via the mobile phone, indicating both security concerns and set-up issues.

"Our research shows that South Africans are becoming comfortable with cellphone banking, but precisely half of general banking customers are still nervous of it, citing trust as their major concern," said Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx. "However, this concern must be seen in the light of 34% also saying the issue is not knowing how to use the service."

"Although we have made great inroads, two-thirds of banked people still don't use electronic channels, other than an ATM," said Pienaar.

Two-thirds of mobile phone banking respondents said they were satisfied with the security of the channel.

The study also revealed that mobile purchasing was begging to take root, with 24% of mobile phone banking customers purchasing prepaid electricity and 21% making general purchases including movie tickets and flowers.

Purchase of airtime however, still led the way, accounting for 61% of mobile phone banking users. Mobility 2009 included research among 1 000 consumers in metropolitan areas, 1 000 SMEs and 240 large enterprises in South Africa.