Mobile banking – getting there, but not there yet

Just found an interesting survey of American banks mobile offerings.

The survey polled 14 top American banks for their mobile services: Bank of America, BB&T, Capital One, Chase, Citibank, Citizens, Fifth Third, ING Direct, KeyBank, PNC Bank, Regions, SunTrust, TD Bank, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.

Chase are placed in poll position, with Wells Fargo in second place, and Bank of America a close third.

Here’s what research firm Keynote found:

Overall Mobile User Experience
Chase Bank
Wells Fargo
Bank Of America
Citibank
BB&T

Functionality
Chase Bank
Wells Fargo and Bank of America
BB&T
Citibank

Ease of use
Chase Bank
Wells Fargo
Citibank
BB&T

Privacy & Security
Wells Fargo
Citizens
Chase & Bank of America
U.S. Bank

Quality & Availability
Well Fargo
Chase
Citibank
CapitalOne
ING Direct

Although the survey shows good progress in mobile functionality and capability, it also demonstrates that even with mobile banking being a maturing market – Bank of America were the first major US bank to launch mobile offerings five years ago – there’s still a long way to go.

For example, only half of the fourteen banks surveyed support all major mobile platforms – apps, mobile web browsers and text messaging – and most of the focus is on the iPhone at the expense of other mobile user access devices.

Equally, mobile security is still high on the agenda of risk, with banks assuring customers of their protections but, as noted by the Consumers Union in the USA, the mobile carrier may not.  As consumers believe that mobile is four times more secure than plastic, according to a recent Javelin research survey, that’s kind of worrying.

In related research, Javelin also found that banks were letting down consumers in identity theft protection due to their never-ending focus on using Social Security Numbers for the identity system.

This research found that banks are failing in all areas of fraud protection, with all of the major banks allowing the use of Social Security Numbers for phone, mail or online authentication, even though only 40% have appropriate browser security applications.

All in all, mobile is getting there but still isn’t quite there yet.