Asians are more likely than people elsewhere in the world to use their mobile phones to do their banking and to shop online, according to a global survey released today.

Asia accounted for five of the six countries and territories where so-called mobile banking is most common, with South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong leading the way, the survey found.

In South Korea, 38.5 percent of mobile phone users bank or shop online with their handsets, followed by 32.6 percent of mobile phone owners in Singapore and 30 percent in Hong Kong.

Next came Malaysia (25.4 percent), Spain (24.8 percent), and China (24.6 percent) followed by the United States (21.9 percent) Brazil (20.8 percent), Britain (20.4 percent) and Sweden (20 percent).

A total of 43 countries and territories were surveyed and more than 34,000 people interviewed for the annual survey by market research company TNS.

TNS executive Marc de Lange said the demand for mobile banking services was rising rapidly and banks should adapt.

“We have seen online PC-based activities move to the mobile platform for some time now,” he said.

“Checking and reading emails have already moved in this direction but we are starting to see other activities such as mobile banking making this shift as well.”

- dpa