Has mobile bankingplateaued?

Having won over the early adopters, has it hit a wall in termsof converting new users?

Several recent studies have been cited in support of thattheory.

Understand, however, that many say that is nonsense. Instead,they say, we are still in the early days of what will eventuallybecome the primary banking avenue, as the sheer convenience of analways-on bank in one's pocket wins the war.

Detractors point to the Federal Reserve's recent study,“Consumers and Mobile Financial

Services 2014,” as exhibit A in the plateau argument. Buried inthe report are intriguing data points, including:

* The share of smartphone users who have made a mobile paymentin the past 12 months has remained constant at 24%. Among allconsumers, only 14% have done so.

* Only 30% of consumers said they have used mobile banking inthe past 12 months.

* Among mobile banking users, only 38% have made at least onemobile remote deposit capture transaction in the past year.

In other research, conducted for UK ID security firm Intercede,a startling 44% of consumers said they would never use a mobilebanking service. Forty-eight percent said they have no interest ina mobile payment app. Some 63% cited security worries as their hangup when it comes to using a phone to move money.

Add these data points together and has mobile banking's sharkjumped?

Industry experts and credit union executives alike said thetruth is the exact opposite.

“There's no plateau,” according to Doug Brown, a senior vice president at Jacksonville,Fla.-based fintech company FIS. “We see steady growth inmobile.”

He added that among FIS's mobile banking customers, after theplatform has been up 18 to 24 months, one-quarter to one-third of[members] are active in mobile.

“We see a little over 30% of mobile users using MRDC” saidBrown, adding that for a technology that has been around only fiveyears – it was introduced by USAA in San Antonio in 2009 – that isvery fast adoption.

“I think 39% is high, for a technology that is so young.” AddedAndrew Tilbury, chief marketing officer at Henderson, Nev.-basedfintech provider Bluepoint Solutions. “To see MRDC take off at thesame time check usage is declining says quite a bit.”

Alan Bernstein, president of Burlington, Mass.-based technologyCUSO Vertifi, offered that numbers to prove the point that mobilebanking is on the rise.

“Across hundreds of credit unions, our most current statsdemonstrate year-over-year growth in registered and active – activeequals one or more deposits per month – service users in the 100%and 80% ranges, respectively,” he said. “This is down from theprevious five years when year-over-year growth across bothcategories averaged 150%. I would not characterize these growthrates as stalled. Surely, the product is maturing.”

At mobile app developer Malauzai in Austin, Tex., co-founder Robb Gaynor shared thecompany's adoption statistics over some 200 financialinstitutions.

“Ninety days after introducing the app, we are at 15% ofmembers. That's a consistent stat.

After 12 months we are 25% to 30% of members. Thereafter,we see 3% to 5% growth per month. Our best in class financialinstitutions already are at 50% of members on mobile banking,” hesaid.

Gaynor summed up: “We are seeing really, really healthy growthin mobile.”

Linda Armyn, senior vice president of corporate affairs at the$5.7 billion Bethpage Federal Credit Union on Long Island, N.Y., offeredinsights into how to succeed with mobile banking. “We quicklyachieved a 49% adoption rate, and it has kept pace with newchecking accounts. Now we hover around 50 to 51%,” she said.“In order to increase the usage, credit unions need to look atmobile banking holistically as part of the overall memberexperience and not just a low cost service that is provided.Members increasingly want fast, intuitive apps that let themconduct their financial business on their terms on their favoritedevices.”

At America's Christian Credit Union, a $281 million institution inGlendora, Calif., Assistant Vice President Bruce Lund said his46,000 members particularly appreciate mobile remote depositcapture because it lets the far-flung membership, scattered acrossmany states, deposit from wherever they are.

“We have people all over the U.S., that's why we have had astrong response,” he said.

Lund said that “around 1,000 members” regularly use MRDC and thenumber keeps climbing.

Add it up and, yes, the rate of mobile banking and MRDC adoptionmay be slowing. But, said many experts, that is no sign of aplateau, so much as it is a sign of a technology that won earlyadopters already and now it is a matter of winning overholdouts.

The sentiment is, they will come. It won't happen overnight but,little by little, the mobile platform is triumphing.