Banking transactions made via mobile devices rose 6.6 percent in the second quarter from three months earlier as more people relied on their smartphones, central bank data showed Tuesday.

The number of daily mobile banking transactions averaged 29.4 million in the second quarter, compared with 27.6 million in the January-March period, according to the Bank of Korea.

The data, however, showed that people tend to use conventional banking channels for major transactions.

Despite accounting for 45.5 percent of all Internet banking transactions, the daily average amount of mobile banking transactions took up only 4.8 percent of the total.

The number of mobile banking users rose 4.6 percent on-quarter to 55 million as of the end of June, accounting for 55.3 percent of all Internet banking users. The figure includes users with multiple accounts.

The data comes as local lenders are slimming down their brick-and-mortar branches to cut costs and focus on digital banking.

Foreign banks such as Standard Chartered have announced plans to shutter up to 50 branches by the end of the year. (Yonhap)