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Over 40 million U.S. consumers will use their mobile phones for banking by 2012, up from around one million in 2007, according to TowerGroup's "Mobile Banking Evolution: Issues and Considerations for 2008" report.

The report said that one-fourth of mobile bankers would be customer who had not tried mobile banking previously.

"With mobile device penetration in the US at an all-time high and market dynamics shifting, mobile banking is finally poised to thrive," said Bob Egan, chief analyst at TowerGroup.

"Consumers view their phones as trusted devices, even more so than their desktop PC," Mr. Egan said. "This perception will help fuel the adoption of mobile banking among non-online banking users."

The TowerGroup also estimated that up to 30 percent of online banking users would start using mobile banking in the next five years.