Mobile banking growth and increased use of the capability toturn debits on or off were two of results that stood out in theFeb. 2 MonkeyInsights “little-data” report from Malauzai Software.

The year-end recap highlighted key trends in mobile bankingusage based on a comparison of data from January 2014 to January2015 for more than 265 credit unions and banks.

“We have analytics that track all the usage behavior — not asurvey, but actual usage behavior,” Robb Gaynor, chief productofficer of Malauzai, said.

The Austin, Texas-based software developer retains the rightfrom its customers to report on that data in an aggregate basisutilizing a tool, Real-Time Metrics and Reporting. The informationcovered 5.1 million logins from 285,000 active mobile banking userswho used the service within the last 90 days.

Growth of mobile banking wasn't surprising given the popularityof smartphones and tablets, as well as financial institutionsdeploying innovative marketing campaigns. The Monkey Insightsreport revealed end-user growth increased substantially.

“What we are tracking in our typical credit union is 35, 40%organic growth in the [mobile-banking] channel,” Gaynorexplained.

For some credit unions, mobile banking growth is 3% to 4% amonth, he added. Gaynor further suggested internet banking usage isleveling off, or in the case of some credit unions, decreasing asmobile escalates.

A relatively novel feature, turning debit cards on and off atthe mobile banking site, may be emerging quickly as a key tool.This feature allows an end-user to manage fraud risk by leaving thecard off and activating it when needed.

Some have turned their cards off from all activity.

“We see more than doubling of the overall activity — peopleturning on and off their debit cards,” Gaynor said, adding that onaverage the feature was used 130% more frequently in January 2015than in January 2014.

The debit on-off switch is one of Malauzai's mobile cardmanagement features controlled by credit union clients. Members canperform any of five tasks: Check their debit card status, turntheir debit card on or off, request increased ATM withdrawal andpoint-of-sale spending limits and notify their credit union whentraveling abroad to prevent automatic rejection of transactions dueto suspected fraudulent activity.

Between 15% and 18% of active users take advantage of one ofthose functions each month, according to the Monkey InsightsReport.

Gaynor said Malauzai initially thought consumers would use theon-off feature for misplaced cards, but instead found a strongtendency for users to leave the account turned off until theyactually need to use the card.

“That was an unexpected behavior that we are seeing quite a bitof,” he said.

Other Monkey Insights report highlights:

• Session Duration Higher in 2014 and SlowChristmas. Overall session duration stayed consistent in2014, averaging 1 minute 20 seconds. The iPhone average sessionduration increased throughout the year, ending at close to 1 minute40 seconds. iPhone users are online longer than their Androidcounterparts.
• Picture Pay Numbers Increase. The averageend-user executed more picture payments in 2014. The average numberof payments per month increased by 18%. The average value of thepayments stayed consistent at $235 per payment. However, theaverage monthly number was even higher on iPad, having increasedduring the year by almost 75%. In addition, iPad end-users made more payments than their smartphonecounterparts. The data suggests a trend in which end-users like thelarger form of a tablet when making payments.
• Higher Internal Account Transfer Values. Theaverage value of an internal account transfer increasedsubstantially in 2014 from an average of $393 in January 2014 to$475 in January 2015. The number of transfers each end-usermade stayed consistent at 3.3 transfers per month.
• Finger Navigation. Using a finger to swipe andnavigate around a smartphone or tablet increased by 125% year overyear. The data point was interesting, Malauzai said, as end-usersmight not have even been aware they could swipe a finger tonavigate. Over time, the mobile provider reasoned, users discoverthe option and like it.