This document provides an overview of the trends in branded mobile applications within the banking and finance sector, highlighting that 80% of banks now offer mobile banking capabilities. It summarizes insights from over 1,000 reviewed apps, revealing functionalities like fund transfers and bill payments, as well as innovative features such as mobile check deposits and augmented reality for locating ATMs. The report emphasizes the growing importance of mobile banking as consumer preferences shift, while also noting security concerns that need to be addressed.

1. BRANDED APPS & BANKING AND FINANCE
JANUARY 2011

2. INTRODUCTION
Part of a series of updates on how brands across major
industry sectors are embracing mobile as part of their digital,
marke9ng or product strategy.
We have reviewed over 1000 branded mobile applica9ons
and summarized the key findings and trends to give you a
snapshot of who is doing what and how.
This update focuses on the Banking and Finance Industry.
Other updates for brands will be available for the following
industries:
• Automo9ve (available now) • FMCG
• Airline (available now) • Cosme9cs
• Luxury Fashion (available now) • Food & Beverage
• Sportswear (available now) • Alcoholic Beverages
• Retail • Hospitality
To automa9cally receive Exicon’s Branded App Updates,
subscribe at hLp://digital.exicon.mobi/reports
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3. OVERVIEW
Personal Finance Apps Are A
Natural Fit For Mobile
Key ObservaMons
The mobile phone is now much more
than just a phone, it is an enabled device
that allows its users to carry out financial
transac9ons.
Mobile banking, un9l recently, was most
oZen conducted via SMS or the Mobile App Spotlight
Web.
Future Trends
From big na9onal chains to smaller
regional outposts, banks have improved Conclusion
the func9onality of mobile banking so
that consumers can transfer funds, pay
bills or check balances whenever and
wherever they may be.
About 80% of banks offer some form of mobile
banking. Jupiter Research
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4. KEY OBSERVATIONS
1
1000+ branded apps reviewed to date
% share by industry
Cosme9cs
UMlity Is Top App Airline Fashion
Feature
Hospitality
Majority of banking and finance apps focus
on comple9ng personal banking transac9ons
Alcohol
with banking and finance brands making up
13% of the total apps reviewed. Finance
Food & 13%
Beverage
Many brands issue apps across a broad range
of products ‐ retail banking, credit card/
Luxury
financial services, investment banking, FMCG
Goods
personal finance, insurance, and mortgages.
Retail Automo9ve
Typical finance app u9li9es are to transfer
money, pay bills, and check account
balances. A few banks, however, are using
innova9ve ways (games, built‐in camera, The earliest mobile banking service was offered
augmented reality) to engage consumers. via SMS in 1999. Taskon
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5. KEY OBSERVATIONS
2 Retail Banking
Focuses On
UMlity
Majority of retail bank apps provide
immediate access to money and financial
assets, elimina9ng the need to visit a
branch.
Typical u9lity func9ons include checking
account balances, paying bills,
transferring money, loca9ng ATM/branch
loca9ons.
Example: Chase currently has one of the most popular
finance apps on iTunes App Store. It’s popularity stems
from a slick and easy to use interface and the major
feature of mobile check deposit, which is also available
for Android Phones.
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6. KEY OBSERVATIONS
3 Apps Tailored
to Individual
Products
Not all brands opt to integrate mul9ple
func9ons into one app, such as ATM/
Branch locator, choosing instead to have
several individual apps for these specific
func9ons.
Currently, MasterCard, American Express,
and Ci9bank lead in terms of number of
apps issued.
Most brands offer apps to encourage
card purchases by iden9fying daily deals
or deals based on consumer’s present Example: MasterCard offers at least six different iPhone apps
loca9on. focusing around their ‘priceless’ marke9ng theme. Apps
focusing on finding experiences, discounts or offers; 9me
saving apps with easy to access informa9on, or easily transfer
funds to an other person.
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7. KEY OBSERVATIONS
4 Capitalizing On
iPad’s interface
For brands with both iPhone and iPad
apps, experiences differ; the larger
screen of the iPad allows for more and
broader visual informa9on than a
smartphone, with the portability that a
tethered PC can’t provide.
Investment banks provide more iPad‐
specific apps, allowing users to view full‐
size research reports as well as mul9ple
stock 9ckers.
Example: Morgan Stanley’s iPad app is not
revolu9onary but it is straighforward, quicker and
easier to use than on a accessing their research on a
PC. Downside to the app is the user must be online to
view reports.
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8. KEY OBSERVATIONS
5 Financial News
Services Recreate
Offline Experiences
Tradi9onal print brands mimic newspaper
experience through their apps.
Some brands are delivering mul9media
experiences complete with up‐to‐date
quotes, video and latest news/research
notes. Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters
lead in this category, offering mul9ple
ways to dis9ll and consume financial info
in one app, par9cularly on iPad.
Most brands con9nue pay‐for‐content
Example: Thomson Reuters Market board is an aLrac9ve
model, even though apps are free for
app for the iPad offering worldwide interac9ve market
download
data and top interna9onal news stories. The big standout
feature is the ability to preview and purchase transcripts
from a wide variety of corporate calls and conferences.
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9. KEY OBSERVATIONS
6 Insurers Engage
Consumers With
InteracMve Apps
Apps go beyond u9lity (filing/managing
claims) by taking the mystery out of
insurance by engaging consumers and
simplifying the claims filing process.
Brands strive to communicate message,
“We are immediately there to help keep
you safe and secure”.
Example: State Farm’s Pocket Agent app makes accident
claims easier. The Steer Clear app provides young drivers
with safe driving 9ps and once the program is complete a
discount on insurance premiums. Their Android app, uses
GPS to auto‐reply to texts whilst driving.
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10. APP SPOTLIGHT
Bloomberg
The Bloomberg app packs a great set of
investment‐related tools and real 9me
porfolio tracking, for free. It is available
in 12 languages and through all major
app plaforms including: iPhone,
Blackberry, Android and Nokia.
However, the Android app is not as fully
fleshed out as it is on the iPhone. For
example, the app doesn't allow you to
reorder your news preferences.
#1 branded Finance app in iTunes and top
free business app on Ovi. Apple & Nokia
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11. APP SPOTLIGHT
Financial Times
FT goes beyond the typical newspaper
app mimicking the print version by
offering apps targe9ng specific customers
and apps designed to increase brand
loyalty and awareness.
FT currently targets subscribers with
strong interest in Asian business. Its iPad
news app is available in Chinese and FT
offers two mobile phone travel apps –
LBBT (LiLle Book of Business Travel) for
naviga9ng Greater China and SE Asia.
20% of all FT.com subscripMons came through
the app in the first weeks of availability. FT
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12. APP SPOTLIGHT
Barclaycard
UK‐based Barclaycard sponsored the
Waterslide Extreme Game issued in
conjunc9on with their “Waterside” ad
campaign. Game allows waterslide rides
through different countries and ends with
a “call to ac9on” to visit Barclaycard
website.
Building upon success of Waterslide
Extreme app, Rollercoaster Extreme
offers similar experience, riding a roller
coaster built throughout NYC. Players
compete for chance to win trip to Las Barclaycard Waterslide Extreme: 17 million
Vegas. downloads & #1 free branded app on iTunes
in 57 countries. Rollercoaster: 9.7 million
downloads. Barclaycard
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13. APP SPOTLIGHT
USAA
USAA, a financial services group for
members of the military and their families,
released mobile banking apps for the iPhone,
Android, Palm and BlackBerry handsets.
In addi9on to all the standard mobile
banking features, this app makes use of the
device’s na9ve func9onality – an advantage
na9ve apps have over the mobile Web.
For example, customers can, by using their
phones’ cameras, deposit checks. Or they
More than 13.3 million mobile transacMons in
can look up roadside assistance should they 2009, and a 14% mobile services adopMon
have an accident. The app even includes a rate — which is three Mmes greater than
flashlight, created by ligh9ng up the screen
to full brightness. other leading banks. USAA
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14. APP SPOTLIGHT
Bank of America
A unique security feature – the sitekey
makes this app stand out. When signing
up for a mobile banking account, you
choose an image and write a short phrase
to go along with it, crea9ng the sitekey.
And you only enter your password if the
app displays the correct sitekey. This is
useful for comba9ng phishing –
fraudsters masquerading as legi9mate
sites in order to obtain personal
informa9on. Bank of America hosts a large percentage of
America’s checking accounts, and it’s no
surprise it was one of the first banks to catch
on to mobile banking, offering a fairly
standard banking app.
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15. APP SPOTLIGHT
AT&T Banking
Two features make this banking app
strong. 1) It is compa9ble across many
different smartphone plaforms (44
models so far). 2) It is useful for those
who have accounts across mul9ple
ins9tu9ons. The app offers similar
features to other mobile banking apps.
However, the design and layout is clunky,
slow and boring. The enrollment process
is confusing and difficult, probably due to
the many security concerns when giving
users access to this many providers. “It took a while to update my accounts the
first Mme I ran aher the upgrade. Then it
works great.” App review on iTunes by Exclr8
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16. APP SPOTLIGHT
MasterCard
‘Flavors of
Shanghai’
MasterCard's ‘Flavors of Shanghai’ app
served as a guide for the Shanghai Expo
as well as offering ‘priceless’ experiences
and dining offers for cardholders.
During promoMon period, cardholder
expenditure registered a 94% increase in
partnered restaurants and bars. MasterCard
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17. APP SPOTLIGHT
PayPal
PayPal’s app allows for managing your
account as well as for micropayments
between people. App features vary by
plaform, with Blackberry as the most
basic and iPhone having the most
features, including check deposit using
the phone’s camera.
Most interes9ng is the integra9on of
Bump App technology. The PayPal app
allows you to send money to another
person by simply entering an amount and
gently “bumping” your iPhone or Android
against an other enabled phone.
PayPal recently reported that holiday mobile
payments are up 300%. PayPal
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18. FUTURE TRENDS
1 Security Remains
An Issue
Securing user informa9on – username,
password, financial info ‐ remains a huge
concern. One common problem is that
Cybercriminals can easily access user’s
info stored in phone’s memory. For
example, the Android version of apps
stored ‘mirror images’ of pages visited,
which could contain account balances or
bank rou9ng numbers
Currently the best way to protect against
security loopholes is with regular
soZware updates un9l more technology
like fingerprint scans are u9lized. “The best piece of advice is to treat the
mobile phone as you would a wallet. ‘In other
words, don't lose it.’" NPR recommends
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19. FUTURE TRENDS
2 Engaging
Customers With
‘Atypical’ Apps
Some brands have employed gaming
apps to aLract customers. Barclaycard
released only this app type, seeing huge
success. However, this strategy is a risky
one as compe99on is huge.
Only 6% of Banking
Another op9on is sponsorship. In
an9cipa9on of Euro 2012, Credit Agricole & Financial Apps
is offering an app that allows games to include games, yet
track matches of France’s na9onal current data shows
football team and par9cipate in raffles.
them to be most
popular. Exicon
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20. FUTURE TRENDS
3 Employing
Phone’s Cameras
To Increase App
UMlity
For example, the banking apps from
Chase and USAA employ the camera to
facilitate check deposits. Take a picture of
the front and back of the check and send
pictures directly to the bank.
USAA’s mobile tool has been used by
members to channel more than $300 million
worth of deposits into their accounts in 2009.
USAA
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21. FUTURE TRENDS
4
Using
Augmented
Reality To Locate
ATMs More
Easily
Un9l now augmented reality apps have
been fun, but en9rely imprac9cal due to
slow or inaccurately rendered
informa9on. However, Forrester research
predicts that the technology has
improved sufficiently that these apps may
well become an integral part of using a
mobile.
Several banks, including Addison Avenue,
ING and Bankiter, are using such “In the next few years, we should expect
technology to help customers locate augmented reality to become a norm in society,
ATMs using camera‐generated pictures
with people holding ‘up their smartphone to
and indicate which will charge fees for
using an other bank card. interact with their environment as a totally natural
gesture.’” Thomas Husson, Forrester via New York Times
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22. FUTURE TRENDS
5 Mobile as
AlternaMve
Payment Method
Mobile payment is being rapidly adopted
as an alterna9ve payment method –
especially in Asia and Europe. Instead of
paying with cash, check or credit cards, a
consumer can use a mobile phone to pay
for a wide range of services and digital or
hard goods.
A few brands have experimented with
mobile payments. In the UK, Barclaycard,
which already offers contactless payment "We're forecasMng that nearly half of all mobile
by credit card are in partnership with phones users worldwide will use mobile
Orange to do the same for phones. In the
US, Bank of America, partnered with Visa, payments by 2014. This could be paying for a
are conduc9ng in‐store tests. digital good like a music track, or it could be
physical good which we're seeing increasingly.”
Howard Wilcox, Juniper Research
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23. FUTURE TRENDS
6 Mobile
Remioances are
Main Financial
Service
Because so much of the world is under‐
banked, the mobile is becoming core to
our finances. Mobile remiLances by text
is already established in many less‐
developed countries as the main form of
payment and poised to grow further.
In developed countries, mobile
remiLances are likely to be used more as
social payments, sharing the cost of a
meal for example, or paying someone a 78% of mobile banking users are in Asia,
small amount of money you might owe
them by bumping your iPhones together Africa, the Middle East and LaMn America. Berg
(PayPal). Insight.
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24. CONCLUSION
As mobile apps become more
sophisMcated, mobile banking is
becoming a more convenient
alternaMve to online banking.
Brands have to be careful that they are not
neglec9ng what will surely become the main
channel for financial transac9ons in the future.
They run the risk of either losing brand profile
to mobile payment specialists, or brand
homogeniza9on by offering the same service as
everyone else (either by using a generic third‐
party technology partner, or by following the
same path as other banks). There is an
opportunity here for a courageous firm to invest
heavily in mobile and take the lead in the
banking of the future.
Security is s9ll the biggest hurdle to overcome Globally, the number of mobile banking users
as the mobile phone becoming ever more
central to our finances, with mobile payments is expected to surge more than sixteenfold, to
and remiLances. 894 million by 2015 from 55 million in 2009.
Berg Insight 2010
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