More than 530 million consumers worldwide will embrace mobile banking services by 2013, up from 300 million in 2011, according to a new forecast released by Juniper Research.

Mobile banking adoption will grow despite the tough economic climate and looming threat of deepening global recession, Juniper states, indicating that m-banking solutions offer banks the opportunity to improve operational efficiencies and cost-effectively drive customer retention and acquisition. The forecast adds that while financial institutions are already developing native applications optimized for smartphones and tablets running Apple's iOS and Google's Android, the most successful deployments will leverage a triple-play approach encompassing apps, SMS and browser-based delivery channels.

Developed markets North America, Western Europe and the Far East/China will lead the globe on mobile banking growth over the next several years, enjoying the highest penetration of users by 2016. "Mobile banking will be one of the greatest success stories of the mobile commerce industry over the next five years, as consumers observe the benefits of accessing banking services on the move," report author Sonia Lalli said in a statement. "As customers become comfortable with undertaking basic banking functions on their mobiles, an increasing number will adopt transactional-based banking enabled by the enhanced functionality afforded by smart devices, exposed to an all-immersive consumer experience."

Close to 32.5 million Americans accessed banking information via mobile device at the end of the second quarter of 2011, representing 13.9 percent of all U.S. wireless subscribers, according to data published in October by digital research firm comScore. By comparison, 26.7 million subscribers accessing mobile banking info in the fourth quarter of 2010.