YEREVAN, October 15. /ARKA/. By the end of this year, the number of mobile banking users across the globe will exceed 1 billion, the world media reported on Wednesday referring to new figures released by Juniper Research.

The new forecast also sees the global user base by 2020 double to 2 billion, or 37% of the global adult population.

The report, 'Worldwide Digital Banking: Mobile, Online & Wearable 2015-2020', acknowledges that while most consumers in developed markets prefer digital banking and virtual channels, a significant proportion continue to favor face-to-face transactions in-branch compared to audio or video communication with a contact center.

Growth in adoption has been particularly aggressive in emerging markets, leading Juniper to revise adoption forecasts upwards. Under Juniper’s revised forecasts, mobile banking users will exceed the 1-billion mark this year instead of during H1 2016 as previously anticipated.

Juniper estimates that around 19% of global household bills will be paid via PC, tablet and mobile devices this year and that global online banking users, as a proportion of banked individuals, is forecast to exceed 50% next year. ----0---