Aite Group said its research finds that increasing theirbusiness with small businesses is critical to their overallsuccess, in the opinion of 80% of American banks.

Reaching a lot of them also will require including mobilebanking as offerings to small and medium enterprises, theBoston-based think firm said in a new report.

While not yet the preferred banking channel, Aite Group said, its research shows that currently 33% of smallbusinesses currently bank with a mobile device. Another 31% expressan interest in doing so, the research and advisory firm said, and54% will by 2015.

“As mobile technologies become an integral part of theircustomers' lives, financial institutions must be ready and able tooffer the mobile channel as yet another channel through which tointeract with their customers,” concludes the report titled“Small Business Mobile Banking: A PromisingOpportunity.”

Half of the responding banking execs said they think offeringmobile banking will be critical to serving small and medium-sizedbusinesses over the next three years, while 41% said it will play arole but not as important as other channels.

However, there's pricing resistance, the think firm found. Morethan half of those interviewed said they would not be willing topay extra at all for mobile banking for their companies, while another 18% saidthey'd be willing to pay $5 to $10 a month for the service.

Aite Group based its conclusions on a survey earlier this yearof 17 large U.S. banks, a November 2011 survey of 24 riskexecutives at American banks and survey last August of 291businesses in the U.S. with less than $10 million in annualrevenue.