Barclays, a UK bank, said customer transactions worth over £4 billion were processed on smartphones in August alone – almost £1,500 every second – and that the Barclays Mobile Banking and Pingit Apps have been downloaded five million times since they were launched in 2012.

Latest figures also show the average Barclays customer visits a branch less than twice a month and uses Barclays Mobile Banking 26 times a month.

In an attempt to get more customers switched onto digital banking, Barclays has published a number of tips online advising on safety and security.

“These statistics demonstrate that smartphones are fast becoming the standard tool to browse, interact, shop and bank online,” said David Emm, principal security researcher, Kaspersky Lab. “However, despite using them to access the same internet as traditional computers, many people do not think they require the same fully-fledged protection. Most people wouldn’t dream of doing their online banking on their laptop or PC without protection, so why wouldn’t the same apply when using your smartphone?”