A new report by Juniper Research into the mobile financial services sector has found that the number of consumers accessing banking services and products via their mobile phones will reach 816 million by 2011, a tenfold increase on the number using such services in 2007.

The report found that financial institutions are delivering an increasing variety of products in the mobile environment including financial information services, funds transfer, bill payment and presentation, account management and customer service.

According to the report, the annual number of global mobile banking transactions will rise from 2.7 billion in 2007 to 37 billion by 2011, as a greater number of services are deployed worldwide. It adds that increased consumer confidence, due to the enhanced security measures that are being utilised in mobile financial services will be crucial to greater service usage levels.

However, the report cautioned that a number of hurdles to service deployment and user adoption have yet to be overcome, including financial regulation, payment transaction costs, revenue share issues and customer support difficulties.

Other findings from the report include:

- The China/Far East region will have the greatest number of users of mobile banking services, followed by Western Europe and the Indian subcontinent

- Financial information services will be the most popular banking product offered via the mobile

- Worldwide average financial transaction values are expected to nearly double over the 2007-2011, rising by more than 4x in many emerging markets