When James Breen looks into thenear future, he sees a dramatic changing of the guard.

Mobile banking will eclipse online banking in three to fiveyears, said Breen who is SVP at the $5.4 billion Bethpage FederalCredit Union in Bethpage, N.Y.

“It's going to happen, it is inevitable,” said Breen.“Just over 50% of our online banking users now are mainly onmobile. It's more convenient and they get alerts. They are usingonline less and less.”

Some credit unions say the domination of mobile is alreadyhappening. A spokeswoman for the $55 billion Navy Federal CreditUnion in Vienna, Va., said she believes it's possible that thefinancial institution's mobile usage could surpass online bankingthis year. One of the main reasons is many of its 4.6 millionmembers are heavy mobile device users, she added.

Other reasons that point to the shift are home PCs are fallinginto disuse, industry sales have cratered and many homes arereplacing dead computers with tablets, which also count as mobiledevices.

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At the Austin, Texas-based mobile banking appsdeveloper Malauzai,co-founder Robb Gaynor said at financial institutions where mobilebanking has been offered for at least 12 months, the typical usagegrowth per month is 5% and that usually occurs with very littlemarketing. Meanwhile, online banking usage is flat, he noted.

“Mobile banking will keep getting bigger as smartphone pricescontinue to fall,” predicted Breen who said the younger the member,in many ways, the stronger the preference for mobile banking, withthose under the age of 40 being the heaviest users.

A survey from global business advisory firm AlixPartnersrevealed 28% of U.S. consumers now use mobile banking, up from 19%in the fourth quarter of 2012. But do not bury online banking justyet. At the $290 million Charlotte MetroFederal Credit Union in Charlotte, N.C., David Cooper, vicepresident of information systems, argued that while mobile willkeep growing, online banking is unlikely to fade away.

Certain tasks such as personal financial management tools workbetter on large screens, he said. While they can be done on a tinyphone screen, given a choice, some members would opt for a biggerscreen to complete a mortgage application, for instance.

A typical session is very short, often under a minute, and mayinvolve checking a balance or paying a bill and then signing off.There is not a lot of leisurely viewing on the mobile channel andthat, too, differentiates it from the online channel. What hasfueled the growth is that it continues to add features that make itin some ways, superior to online banking.

“The user can do things in mobile that cannot be done online,like mobile remote deposit capture and picturepay,” said Gaynor, adding as more functions are built intomobile, usage will continue to grow.