Australia and New Zealand Banking
Group (ANZ) is to drop its mobile banking service because of low
take-up, insisting customers can use SMS text messaging and online
banking channels instead.
Australia’s third-largest bank by
assets will discontinue its m-banking service from 14 May citing
“very low use” among customers.
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An ANZ spokesperson told
RBI: “We have found only about 0.6% of our internet
banking users are registered for m-banking, and most of what they
use m-banking for can be accessed from text or internet
banking.”
The bank added that the m-banking
service – launched in January 2008, making ANZ the first Australian
bank to do so – works on increasingly fewer handsets and advances
in smartphones means customers want a simpler service that ANZ can
currently offer.
But the bank hinted towards future
investments in m-banking services that “will deliver our customers
an even better experience” although a specific date was not
disclosed.
SMS text messages, internet and
phone banking are more “widely used” by customers, according to the
bank, with about 1.8m internet banking users and nearly 180,000
internet banking for iPhone users.
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By GlobalDataThe move goes against the
strategies of most banks to tap into a growing trend for direct
banking, including ANZ’s rivals.
Sam Plowman, general manager of
direct banking at National Australia Bank (NAB), told RBI
he was “shocked and surprised” at the move.
“NAB is committed to providing our
customers with more flexible banking and greater choice in how they
interact with us,” he said.
“We are seeing continued growth
both in Australia and overseas in the mobile banking space as more
and more customers take advantage of the ease of use and
convenience that it provides.”
NAB launched m-banking in September
2009, with a feature set the bank boasts is accessible to all
smartphone users, regardless of platform.
The bank added that the m-banking
service is supplemented by a text messaging service that extends
direct banking to customers who own older mobile phones.
Westpac, has offered an m-banking
service since 2008, using the ‘BPAY’ system (a single bill payment
service that allows customers to process payments securely) to
process transactions such as viewing the latest balance, the last
20 transactions and transferring money between Westpac
accounts.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(CBA) has also been running the service since 2009.
CBA said in the first six months since the launch of its next
generation m-banking service, the channel attracted 100,000
customers logging in on a regular basis. The most popular features
were viewing transactions, funds transfers and ‘BPAY’ bill
payments.
