Forrester, the independent market research company, has revealed its 2015 Global Mobile Banking Functionality Benchmark with CaixaBank at the top and two Canadian banks in the top five. However, the United Kingdom fared less well. Patrick Brusnahan comments
The latest mobile banking functionality report from Forrester reviewed the mobile banking services of 41 large retail banks in 13 different countries.
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Rankings reflected the capability of the banks’ mobile banking applications to execute a range of common tasks, including finding a recent transaction, sending money to a family member, and paying a bill.
Despite being considered a global banking hub with London a city full of innovative ideas, the UK did not receive a great reception in the report. While Lloyds Bank was commended for pulling ahead of its peers in this field, the other four British banks did not perform as well.
Barclays (58), NatWest (53), HSBC (51), and Nationwide (42) all received lower benchmarks than the global average of 61.
Only in using mobile apps as a cross-selling touchpoint did UK banks receive any praise with them ‘continuing to do well as a group’ and Lloyds earning the highest score in this category. This is partly due to the Lloyds Bank app allowing customers to read and compare different products within the actual application.
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By GlobalDataIn contrast, Canada saw two of its banks, CIBC and Scotiabank, in the top five with both receiving benchmarks of 75. All the Canadian banks’ scores were above average, bar RBC, who received the global average score.
Scotiabank, in particular, was highlighted for its agile approach to mobile. The example that Forrester gave was the bank’s quick replacing of native code, which ‘did not support a long-term strategy’, with responsive web design.
Other banks praised for improving over the last year were Westpac in Australia, Bank Zachodni and mBank in Poland. This was due to them offering a wider range of transactional features and functionality, more useful guidance across touchpoints for consumers, and promoting additional services.
However, the standout participant was CaixaBank. With a rating of 86, nearly ten points above second-placed Westpac, the report claimed that the bank excelled at providing both basic and next-gen features. The bank also received the highest score in three of the seven categories considered in the benchmark; range of touchpoints, account and money management, and service features.
One example of its innovation was its predictive tools, such as future spending based on spending history and past behaviour.
