Mobile Banking Updates - Aug 25

Mobile Banking Continued Steady Growth in July
"Consumers' use of mobile banking apps continued to grow at roughly the same rate in July as the previous month, resulting in a reading for American Banker's Mobile Banking Intensity Index of 71.8. The biggest change during the month was in mobile check deposit: the index value for the average transaction value of checks deposited via mobile device dropped more than 10 points. However, check sizes are still growing, just not quite as much as they were in June. In July, 52% of bankers said the average value of checks deposited by consumers using a smartphone camera was higher than in in June. Almost half (47%) said the average value was about the same; less than 1% said these checks had gotten smaller."

Americans Rank the Top 10 Best and Worst Mobile Banking Apps
"Why did U.S. consumers rank Citizen’s Bank highest? And what three critical areas do several banks need to improve in? What do consumers think of banks’ mobile banking apps? It’s easy enough to find out. Just pop on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, where you can look at customer ratings and reviews."

Bank of America Tops 1 Million Small Business Mobile Banking Users
"More than one million Bank of America small business clients are now using mobile banking, according to a statement today by the bank. The milestone in adoption can be credited to the flexibility that mobile banking affords small business owners, Mary Bintz, a small business sales executive said in the statement. 'Today’s small business owners… are in their cars and trucks, on factory floors, shopping for supplies and visiting clients on-site.'"

Sterling Bank Launches Mobile Banking Solutions
"Sterling Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:STSA), whose principal operating subsidiary does business in Washington, Oregon and Idaho as Sterling Bank, today announced that it is launching a robust mobile banking suite for consumer customers. Now, Sterling Bank customers can manage accounts with a mobile phone or a tablet using the Sterling Bank Mobile App, which is available for iPhone(R), iPad(R) and Android(TM) devices. Customers can also access accounts with Mobile Web or enroll in Text Banking and text the bank to receive account balance and recent transactions."

Top 10 Mobile Banking Mistakes
"There’s plenty of great information out there for consumers about the dos and don’ts of mobile banking—password protect your device, use caution with what apps you install on your phone—but there are also plenty of mistakes financial institutions make when it comes to mobile. Let’s look at what may be considered to be the top ten."

Demystifying m-commerce
"Smartphones are already more popular globally than desktop PCs and of the 1.875 billion phones to be sold in 2013, a staggering 1 billion will be smartphones. In Europe, revenue from mobile commerce is predicted to rise from €1.7 billion in 2011 to €19.2 billion in 2017, according to Forrester (EU Mobile Commerce Forecast, 2012 to 2017; July 2012). This presents a huge revenue opportunity in the face of declining high street sales, and companies that fail to adapt their online strategy may be left behind as a result. In a recent study, Chase Paymentech found that only 40% of merchants have a mobile commerce site in place to provide a seamless multi-channel shopping experience."

Mobile banking hype ahead of reality
"When it comes to mobile banking, the hype can get out of hand quickly. We tend to note new gee-whiz trends, such as the rise of remote deposit, and conclude that mobile banking is making great leaps forward. It's refreshing to hear a voice of dissent. "Mobile banking is great if I am sitting at an airport and feel the urge to make a payment or check up on something. It has been equally terrific when I have needed to get to my bank accounts and do not have access to my computer to do an online banking session. But mobile banking, at least with my primary bank, has proven itself unreliable, and too limited on too many occasions that my first preference for now remains online banking," says one consultant."

ICYMI podcasts: Software defined networks now, mobile banking of the future
"This week’s guest on the GigaOM Structure Show, certainly isn’t shy with his opinions. Tune in to hear North Bridge Venture Partners partner Paul Santinelli offer his take on the software-defined networking segment to Derrick Harris and Barb Darrow. The GigaOM Weekly Wrapup show recaps the highs and lows of BlackBerry’s history, as well as some positive analyst updates for Sprint and T-Mobile: Should Verizon and AT&T be worried?"