Title: Five Tips for Staying Ahead in Mobile Retail Banking
Abstract: CONSIDER it a sign of the times: A tiny device that fits in your back pocket is fundamentally changing how bank customers behave, as well as how banks invest capital and even how they hire. By 2014, seven in 10 U.S. adults had smartphones. They're radically changing how people shop, communicate, consume news, get around, listen to music--and bank. They're why 39 percent of mobile phone owners with bank accounts use mobile banking, up from 33 percent in 2013 and 29 percent in 2012. And the mobile banking market's not only getting bigger, it's getting more entrenched. number of people using mobile banking at least once a week climbed to 45 percent from 37 percent two years ago, according to RateWatch. That's why convenience is as much about technology as it is about branches. As this demand increases, it will become even more crucial for banks to offer mobile services, or risk losing customers to competitors, RateWatch marketing manager Kimberly Myszkewicz says. The more a person is engaged in the service, the more likely they are to stick with that institution for other services. With almost three-fourths of Americans now saying their relationships with banks are primarily transactional, according to Accenture, having the right mobile offering isn't just trendy--it's a survival strategy. Here's what four experts say banks should do to stay relevant in mobile. 1 Don't design things just for millennials. Mobile is often regarded as the domain of the twentysomethings, but it's actually gaining traction in all age groups. Today, you find everybody pretty much across the board succumbing to the lure of mobile, says Alex Carriles, director of self-service channels at BBVA Compass. Two or three years ago, the bank's mobile audience was primarily early adopters, but at the end of last year, mobile use surpassed all other channels. Now between 25 percent and 30 percent of BBVA customers are mobile-only, Carriles notes. There's an important caveat though, warns Janine Kasper, a channel operations manager at Q2 Software, which has about 3.1 million end users. It has to be easy to use, because the millennial group, while they love technology, they are not necessarily the techies. They just know that if they've got more than three clicks that they have to do to get anything done, they're going to bail. ABA, through its Corporation for American Banking subsidiary, endorses Q2's virtual banking solutions. Security is the trigger for baby boomers, she adds. If you have a digital or a virtual banking solution that is easy to use and is safe--meaning that there is a way to authenticate that person so the individual has the security and peace of mind of knowing what they're doing is going to be confidential--the older markets and those baby boomers are picking it up even more now, she explained. 2 Offer mobile deposit. One feature that really has exploded recently, and this is one where that process has already taken place and people have realized it, is mobile deposit, says Rob Morgan, ABA's director of emerging technologies. Maybe five years ago, less even, a few banks came out with mobile deposit and it didn't take long before the rest of the industry realized they needed to catch up. Customers that use those features are growing faster than ones that are logging in to check a balance, says Don Westermann, EVP and chief information officer at Eastern Bank in Boston. It's really designed, I think, to drive engagement with the customer. Carriles adds that BBVA is also getting serious traction in mobile deposit. In fact, he says growth in mobile deposits and transactions was so high that he expected to blow through his per-transaction cost budget by the end of the month. That budget was supposed to last until early 2016. 3 Overhaul your tech team--or your provider relationship. Some banks are growing their tech teams; others are buying them. …
Publication Year: 2015
Publication Date: 2015-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
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