According to a Google report, one of the biggest banks in America has more than 12 million users transacting USD$6.5 billion monthly on their mobile devices. Most of you would probably have used some form of financial service on your mobile devices. In this age where smartphones and hi-speed mobile internet access are a commonplace, activities such as checking your bank accounts, making fund transfers and even paying for your shopping endeavors on mobile has never been easier. Although the finance industry has been markedly slow with the adoption of social media, and is only starting to improve the use of social media, the industry in general has been quick to adopt new technologies. It is going through yet another massive transformation with mobile leading most of the emerging innovations. There is an estimated 20,000 active Finance Apps in the iTunes store when this article is published, with almost every major bank having their own mobile application.

Mobile Payments

However, banks alone are not the only ones responsible for fronting the mobile finance trend. Technology companies such as Paypal and Square have made the mobile payments so much easier, by accepting credit card payments using a mobile device. They have disrupted the payment industry many times over and are still going at it. This innovation in mobile contactless payment might just be marking the “end of the cash register and credit cards”, and is only one of the few major mobile finance trends seen in 2013.

Personal Finance

In the fields of personal finance management, companies such as Mint and Betterment are changing the way people manage their finances. Their mobile applications help users stay on top of their portfolios whilst providing them readily accessible information (insights on their finances). This service might just rattle the personal finance industry, questioning the need for financial advisers.

Social Network

The hyper-growth of social media in the past few years have been well documented to be strongly correlated to the growth in mobile users. Many companies are building on this to provide services such as crowd-sourcing information to their users. And one such good example is StockTwits, where users can follow users and markets that interest them. If information is king, then nothing beats being connected to millions of users sharing real-time information wherever and whenever on their mobile device.

Mobile Trading

FOREX.com, Saxo Bank, and IG Group have announced that mobile trading is becoming a considerable part of their overall volume

Stock and Foreign exchange (forex) trading is another example of how finance has adapted to fit mobile trends. While the first generation of trading software for the mobile was unrefined, the new bloom of mobile trading apps have made the experience much simpler and more accessible. In 2012, brokers such as FOREX.com, Saxo Bank, and IG Group have announced that mobile trading is becoming a considerable part of their overall volume with many firms reporting over 20% of their customers using mobile apps.

Mobile Social Trading

And there is mobile social trading, combining both social network and mobile trading together, gives users even more authority on their mobile devices. The ability of having crowd-sourced information for investors to make informed investment decisions almost immediately is definitely most welcomed. The mobile app TradeHero is a social trading simulator doing just that. It allows users to learn the ropes of trading by following traders who are performing well. This gives them the opportunity to learn from top traders by receiving push notifications on stock tips and alerts from the better traders. Mobile will continue to disrupt the finance sector in many innovative and valuable ways and the key to doing so is simplicity. Financial services can sometimes be very complex, and to succeed on mobile, the experience needs to be genuinely customer-centric. If done right, we can expect more original finance mobile applications on smartphones and tablets all around the world. Find out more about TradeHero here or download the iPhone App here.