Ask Anthony Genovese, a vice president at payments company Compass Plus in St. Louis, to assess the current state of mobile banking apps and his verdict is bluntly unenthusiastic.
"There's a lot of 'me-too' apps," said Genovese, who spoke in connection with the release of a new Compass Plus white paper, "Mobile Banking: One Size Doesn't Fit All." (A free download is here.)
"I do not see very many truly empowering apps. Financial institutions are not signing up new customers because of their mobile apps," said Genovese.
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He added that getting to the next, higher level of mobile banking is as simple as, "Have a strategy and knowing what your customers want."
Genovese added that central advice from Compass Plus to credit unions is to "focus on the importance of the mobile channel" and to take steps to make use of uniquely mobile features such as built-in GPS (the phone knows where it is), a camera, and in an increasing number of phones NFC, the near-field communications payments chip.
Genovese added that "the stickiness of mobile user is questionable. Financial institutions aren't offering many features that compel users to keep using the channel."
The white paper text elaborated: "While many users have signed up for mobile banking services, the on-going use of these services is often rather limited." Compass Plus cited research that said perhaps 8% of subscribers "could be considered active users."
The white paper continued: "By leveraging the ubiquity of mobile communications, financial institutions can deliver always-available highly personalized services and instant access anytime, anywhere."
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