Mobile Banking and Internet Banking: What’s the Difference?

Recent studies have shown that the number of mobile phone users in the world is expected to touch the 5 billion mark by 2019. Of these, at least half use smartphones. When we look at the situation for a country like India, we realize over 400 million people in the country use smartphones, and this number is expected to cross 800 million by 2022. Seeing this massive boom in mobile users, it comes as no surprise to see banks offer their services on the mobile platform too. This has given rise to what is commonly known as mobile banking. Today, we will take a look at how it is different from internet banking.

What exactly do mobile banking and internet banking entail?

As the name suggests, mobile banking is where you use handheld devices like smartphones to access your bank account and perform basic transactions and functions. All of this takes place over a wireless network through the internet, just like your laptops.

The whole purpose of mobile bankin`g is to help customers carry out bank transactions on the go with just mobile data/Wi-Fi. It is the convenience of using a smartphone remotely to use banking services that makes mobile banking so popular in today’s world. No matter where you are, as long as you have internet on your device, you can access your account easily.

Internet banking is quite similar to mobile banking, except it is much broader. In this case, you perform transactions over the internet through your laptop or computer. You access the bank website’s directly on your browser, log in using your credentials and voila! The banking world is practically at your fingertips and you can pretty much take advantage of all the services your bank has to offer.

Internet banking and mobile banking are two sides of the same coin: they help people become savvier with their bank account management and other important transactions. At the same time, these two sides are slightly different.

What separates the two?

Mobile banking is limited in its functionality. It allows the user to transfer funds, pay bills, check account details, set PIN code, block your card, and all the other basic functions. In other words, it serves as a convenient option to perform day to day transactions without any hassles. To do so, all you need is the bank’s mobile application or the mobile version of the bank’s website on your smartphone.

Mobile banking generally makes use of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Short Messaging Service (SMS) to aid in the transactions. But with time, the features are evolving with new safeguards in place.

However, if you are looking to go beyond the basics and do something more advanced, mobile banking won’t cut it. It is because many features are not available with mobile banking. For instance, you cannot apply for a loan at many banks through their mobile banking feature. Similarly, you may not be able to add new beneficiaries, view the offers available for your account, perform high-value transactions, and other similar services.

This is where internet banking steps in.

Internet banking offers an array of services to its customers, covering the A-to-Z of the banking world. The functions are not limited by any means. Whatever you couldn't do through mobile banking can now be achieved through internet banking. You can pay your taxes, schedule your payments, request cheque books, open DEMAT account, view and edit the beneficiaries in your account and much more.

Mobile banking is part of internet banking - think of it as a few branches of a massive tree. In the former case, you can perform basic bank transactions but if you are looking to do something more, you need to log in to your bank account on your computer or laptop. Of course, you need to be careful of the passwords you set and ensure that there is no malware on your devices to mitigate the chances of fraud and malicious activities.

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