Journal of the National Research University Higher School of Economics

Mobile banking is currently one of the most dynamic and rapid growth types of distance banking services. In recent years in Russia, the number of individual bank accounts that can be accessed remotely using mobile devices has increased by more than 20 times. With every year, an increasing number of banks offer mobile banking services. Nevertheless, the popularity of mobile banking applications is lower than the popularity of other banking services. Thus the problem of mobile banking adoption by customers remains an extremely important problem.

This paper analyses foreign surveys on the incentives for using mobile banking. The model developed by the authors is based on well-known theoretical and empirical approaches and takes into account particular features of Russia’s economy and society. As a theoretical basis, we use the most widespread theories about technology acceptance and innovation diffusion. Using a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, we verified that the key incentives for using mobile banking by mobile Internet users — are perceived usefulness and perceived efforts.

Our results confirm those of most similar foreign surveys. Our findings also have ‘real world’ significance as they may help financial institutions better understand the latest developments of mobile banking in Russia.