. We’ve become jaded from testing mobile banking app after mobile banking app. Mobile banking app development has hit a plateau, with most concepts resembling each other, in shiny new colors.
In 2019 I had a few conversations with some very smart
developers and technologists who were in the process of developing or thinking
about developing “challenger banks”. I also attended quite a few banking meet-ups
and instead of getting excited at the prospects, I got this feeling that I’ve
had enough.
Mobile revolution in banking has reached a ceiling. While developers all over the world are investing more energy in developing even more mobile banking apps, leading banks seem to have gone through a few technology cycles since 2015 to transform themselves into technology companies that are offering the same services as
FinTechs
.
When you think about it, we use a mobile banking app to do just 4 main things (regardless of the generation you fall under):
To view the bank balance
View recent transactions
Make bill payments
Transfer funds
Let’s take stock of where we are now with mobile banking “innovations”:
Personal mobile banking apps that made a splash in 2019
Mobile Banking App
Country
What the App Does
Sales Pitch
Chime
USA
Mobile-Only Bank
It allows users to manage their spending and savings account with no hidden fees
Nubank
Brazil
Online Baking App
It provides invoice and spending tracking and offers reward points
Mint
USA
Mobile Banking App
A banking app that collects a users payment information and offers advice based on spending patterns
Revolut
UK
Mobile Banking App
Offers a prepaid debit card, currency exhange, cryptocurrency exchange and p2p payments
N26
Germany
Mobile Banking App
Offers fast, flexible and transparent money management tools to control finances
bunq
Netherlands
Mobile Banking App
Offers a “green” alternative to banking by promising to focus on the economy while you bank
These app are in all fairness looking to attract different demographics i.e. younger generations that are used to doing as much as they can on their mobile devices.
Business banking apps that made the cut in 2019
Most of the business banking apps seem to focus on business functions, travel and budgeting.
Tide
Starling
Revolut
Monese
TransferWisere
Soldo
Anna
Coconut
Holvi
Kontist
These apps are targeting mostly business owners who
traditionally have an affinity to banks.
2019 offered homogenous banking apps
When you look at the app stores, almost ALL the mobile
banking
apps seem to have taken the same cereal-box advice and offer the following as “innovations”:
Secure signup
Real-time notifications
Budget organization and analysis
Instant money transfers to friends & family
Investment advice and scheduled investing goals
Of course everyone expects certain features in a banking app. However, no banking app to date has been able to sell itself on just the most fundamental expectation:
A simple promise that my money will always be there when I need it, just like what I have come to expect from my bank over the years
… the rest of the features are just gimmicks I look at when I have time to browse through the app! After all, how much time do you REALLY spend playing around with your mobile BANKING app?!? (For me, it’s 3 minutes max and I’ve done everything I need to do)
Why then have FinTechs been touting the following features
as mobile banking app “innovations”?
Instant money transfers
Fingerprint login
Mobile P2P
Mobile photo bill payments
Facial recognition
Expense tracking
Chatbot customer service
An innovation should be a feature that makes people look at
their money in a different way.
What fundamental problem have mobile banking apps up to now purportedly been
trying to solve?
Personal banking
Most personal banking apps seem to be solving the “convenience”
problem
Business banking
Most business banking apps have sold themselves as solving
the “red tape” and “time-wasting” problem
The state of mobile banking development
The last 5 years have seen a lot of “challenger banks” (and more are in the pipeline for 2020) and mobile banking apps. What both the personal and business banking mobile apps have managed to do is validate a long-held banking industry secret … it’s all about convincing the customers who to trust.
In 2015 I had a chat with a banking executive about the state of mobile banking. He believed banks would eventually catch up with FinTechs ( either through collaboration or acquisition). Banks have eventually caught up with FinTechs by convincing technology-loving customers (anyone under the age of 50) to buy into their mobile banking apps. In hindsight, the cynical bank executive was right.
So far on offer from FinTechs has been fundamentally homogeneous mobile banking apps with the same gimmicky functions dressed up as innovations.
Technically all I want to do is bank! Whether I do it on a headstand, doing a handstand or riding a bike doesn’t change the fact that all I want to do is get on with banking and be done with it.
Mobile banking
apps have managed to dress up the fact that they haven’t offered anything new for a while other than window dressing. They are “banks” on smartphones … just waiting to be acquired by actual banks.
Simply offering new services which are accessible via a smartphone only is not transformative.
My Wishes and hopes for 2020 in Banking and mobile banking specifically
2020 Banking Wishes:
I wish someone comes up with a concept that transforms banking the way AOL transformed E-Mail communication
I wish banking for the poor will be placed back on the agenda. More specifically, I wish VCs will start to finally invest in socially inclusive and transformative apps the way M-Pesa completely bypassed the banking structure and allowed the underbanked to conduct commerce in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Afghanistan, South Africa, India, Romania and Albania
2020 Banking Hopes:
I hope 2020 will not bring any more mobile banking apps that attempt to solve imaginary problems. Bottom line is, no one really minds a little inconvenience here are there. As humans we are prone to moan from time to time. So don’t develop mobile banking apps that apparently solve the “inconvenience problem” (only the overindulged seem to think that’s a problem)
I hope more decision-makers at leading banks will increase their willingness to commit to Blockchain and identify a genuine business problem that the technology can resolve. Only then can/should they develop a strategy for delivering a meaningful Blockchain project. Despite all its adoption difficulties, Blockchain has massive potential to transform financial services processes.
In Conclusion
There are a lot of smart thinkers and technologists out there!
Let’s start REALLY transforming banking in 2020 and stop hyping less-than meaningful
technology concepts in banking and throwing money at developments that offer
novelty gimmicky functions.
A great and innovative mobile banking app in 2020 should
mean just 2 things:
Not just an app that has high ratings but an app that has been rated by the greatest amount of people
The banking app that has helped millions of users not just offered the most gimmicky features for the few
2020 should start a technological race between banks and
FinTechs … that’s the only way, we banking customers will get to benefit,
regardless of the generation. They both can offer dedicated, personalized and
useful features with high security standards.
“We’ve become jaded from testing mobile banking app after mobile banking app.”KEVIN MOSERI