Barclays Bank, the
second-largest in the UK by assets, has refreshed its mobile
banking service one year on from launch, after reaching more than
4m hits a month.
The bank has tapped into the success of its
South African subsidiary Absa, one of the world’s most successful
mobile banking operators. By the end of November 2009, the
number of Absa m-banking customers had reached 1.6m.
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Barclays has revamped its m-banking service
with new tools including a currency conversion calculator,
‘tappable’ bars supporting touch-screen views for mobile phones and
an updated balance screen allowing customers to view transactions
“at a glance”.
It is in stark contrast to some of its UK
retail banking rivals including First Direct, the online subsidiary
of HSBC, which has had set backs to launching m-banking.
The latest developments to Barclays’ m-banking
service, launched in 2009 amid a shake-up in the bank’s retail
division, build on a series of developments which give customers a
service operating on all of the main mobile platforms.
“In just over a year we have grown the service
from nothing to over 4m hits a month which is just phenomenal,”
said Sean Gilchrist, Barclays’ digital banking director.
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By GlobalData
‘Snack banking’
“The feedback from our customers is very much
around ‘snack banking’ on the move.”
Gilchrist added that Apple’s iPhone and the
prevalence of wi-fi hotspots had been a catalyst for interest in
m-banking, with customers prepared to do a lot more via their
handset.
In comparison, First Direct was forced to
announce that it does not yet have an iPhone app after
conversations on social networking sites Talking Point and Twitter
triggered confusion among customers.
The bank confirmed customers cannot download a
First Direct app from the Apple store, but rerouted users to its
internet banking site which it said “can be more easily viewed on
the iPhone”.
The bank added it has not “rushed into
launching these apps as we want to make sure we get it right first
time rather than pushing something out that isn’t really
ready”.
First Direct insisted there are plans to launch
several iPhone apps over the coming months, ranging from an app for
customer recommendations to a dedicated banking app.
Stewart Bromley, head of digital solutions at
First Direct asked customers to “watch this space”.
“We are just not ready to let the cat out of
the bag yet,” Bromley added.
Although Nationwide Building Society set the
ball rolling at the end of 2007, as one of the first lenders to
allow access to its services via the iPhone, it is not strictly a
mobile banking service but rather a functionality that allows
customers to view their account via a handset.
Lloyds, the UK’s largest retail banking group,
began offering a limited form of mobile banking in September 2008,
while NatWest launched m-banking for the iPhone in November
2009. But the number of customer downloads for the banks’
services has not been disclosed, suggesting a disappointing
performance.
The established banks are not alone in their
effort to tap into the booming m-banking industry, with new
entrants including Metro Bank pointing at the digital channel as an
area for boosting its customer base.
Vernon Hill, co-founder of the Metro Bank, told
RBI last month he was a fan of the digital channel, adding
there are plans to launch applications for the iPhone, although
details were not disclosed.
The mobile payments sector, closely linked with
m-banking is booming and set for further growth.
Gartner, the research house, forecasts a 54.5%
jump in the number of people using their mobile phones to make
payments from 70.2m in 2009, to 108.6m this year.
