New MyPrivateBanking Research Report: Global Benchmarking of Banking Apps – a Few Excellent, Majority Still Offering Users Only Basics

Zurich, Switzerland, April 12, 2013 --(PR.com)-- The overall quality of mobile apps for banking is increasing, but there is still a critical lack of more advanced, user-friendly features and content. This is a main finding in the new report on the mobile solutions for retail customers of the world’s top 50 banks by Swiss research company MyPrivateBanking. Compared to the 2011 edition of this report, the sheer number of banking apps and app features have grown explosively, accompanied by an improvement in overall quality, with the average rating increasing from 35 to 40 out of 60 points in 2013. But MyPrivateBanking still sees a high divergence between the best offerings and those from the mass of the banks analyzed.

The winners of this year’s app ranking, Singapore-based DBS Bank, ranked 4th in the 2011 report, and the first-time analyzed US bank, Capital One, achieve an overall score of 50 out of 60 points, Société Générale follows with 49 points and ABN AMRO and Westpac achieve 48 points for their excellent app offerings. Deutsche Bank, Société Générale and Bank of China are winners in the category of best stand-alone apps. “This year‘s winner succeed in providing more than just basic account information and transaction feature,” says Steffen Binder, Research Director of MyPrivateBanking. "The top-ranked banks offer well thought out, comprehensive app strategies that can keep up with the best app developers in the world."

Top 5 Banks with the best mobile apps strategy (overall 50 banks ranked)

1. Capital One, 50 Points (New)
1. DBS Bank, 50 points ( Rank 2011: 1)
2. Société Générale, 49 Points (Rank 2011: 18)
4. ABN Amro, 48 Ponits (Rank 2011: 15)
3. Westpac, 48 Points (New)

However, according the MyPrivateBanking, the average bank’s performance is not even close to that of the top performers. The report sees the following main shortcomings in the app strategy of many of the banks analyzed:

Banking apps offer only basic functionality, missing out on more advanced features. Almost one-fifth of the banks still have no ATM and branch finders and as well no credit card features integrated in their app offerings. Brokerage/trading features are only available for just under half of the mobile banks under review. Only 52% of banks offer a contact option for “lost and stolen cards.”

Banks are weak when it comes to providing interesting features and product information for customers. Most banks (72%) do not provide any corporate information. Only about half of the banks (56%) provide information about their products and services to app users. Interactive calculators to promote these products and services are only found within 17 mobile banking applications altogether.

Lack of content and multimedia features. Less than half of the evaluated banks offer financial news and banks providing research publications or client magazines number only 12 and 16 of the 50 analyzed, respectively. Video or audio content is only available for 34% of the banks in the evaluation. The remaining 33 banks do not provide multimedia content at all.

App coverage for tablet devices is still lacking. Currently only 30 out of 50 banks offer native tablet mobile banking applications.

MyPrivateBanking urges banks to do their homework in respect to mobile apps. First of all, banks must listen to their app users better. App stores, social networks and other channels provide frequent and instant feedback from users on banking apps. Secondly, it should be clear which client or user requirements each app is intended to satisfy, how the app is integrated with other apps and media channels, and how it meets the objective of strengthening the loyalty of existing clients and winning new ones. Thirdly, MyPrivateBanking believes banking, brokerage, corporate information and a digital client magazine aras must-haves for the banking app portfolio of every global bank. All these features should be concentrated in a limited number of apps and should complement the offerings on other channels such as websites and social media to form a coherent digital strategy.