Report: FIs, Follow the Money to Mobile Apps

A new report from Aite Group indicates that mobile apps are now a fundamental banking platform that financial institutions need to adopt. Written by Aite Group senior analyst David Albertazzi, the report—“Digital Banking Channels: Tune-up or Overhaul?”—is based on a fourth quarter 2012 survey of senior digital banking executives at 28 U.S. FIs, with assets ranging from $1 billion to more than $50 billion.

The report found that mobile banking is growing exponentially. Three-fourths of the FIs surveyed already offer mobile banking, and the rest said they will do so within the next 24 months.

Albertazzi points to increased use of smartphones and consumers’ desire to access financial information remotely as key reasons for the surge in mobile banking. He says apps are currently the leading mobile banking model because they’re generally accepted as providing the best user experience.

The report found that FIs plan to add two main services to their mobile banking platforms: mobile P2P payments and remote deposit capture of checks. Survey participants said that the largest challenges they face as they develop mobile platforms and features are the quality of the user experience, risk and fraud management and integration with their other banking channels and core IT systems.

Albertazzi recommends that FIs enable mobile banking enrollment directly on mobile devices to maximize mobile banking adoption across their entire customer base, and particularly among younger customers.

A report from Mercator Advisory Group also indicates that mobile platforms will likely shape the future of banking. In an October 2012 survey of 1,008 U.S. consumers, the firm found that U.S. consumers who use mobile apps on smartphones or tablets, or who access FI websites from mobile devices, communicate with their bank more frequently than those who communicate with their bank by any other method.