Mobile Banking – What Will It Bring in 2011?

Smartphones are common place. Instant access to key information is expected by the general public. But, what about mobile banking? It has been a way of life for the United Kingdom for the last few years. U.S. banks are entering the market and, even retailers, like Starbuck’s are jumping on the opportunity to give customers a cashless payment option from their mobile device.

U.S. banks have often stayed with the “tried and true,” the things they know are secure, reliable, and predictable. But, as banks begin to deliver mobile banking to their customers, the pace of change and IT challenges are accelerating at rocket speed.

With this in mind some of the growing trends we will most likely see in 2011 include:

1. A larger and more diverse set of alerts will become available from not only a consumer’s financial institution, but creditors as well.
2. Mobile Payments are gaining traction and should become a force in 2011.
3. Mobile usage for online banking is headed for an eventual takeover of the web channel.  This may be the year that banks embrace the importance of the mobile world in their overall strategy.
4. App stores are springing up everywhere and provide banks with different ways to interact with their customer base through new apps.
5. Smart Tablets – i.e. iPad like devices – are already mainstream.  It doesn’t take much of a leap to see consumers demanding financial applications on these devices.
6. Mobile remote check deposit is being adopted more readily for one off deposits.  However it will be short lived as it will be phased out over time as checks continue to disappear.
7. Social Media Banking is a real possibility.  Vantage Credit Union is already there – allowing their customer to transfer money between accounts by using Twitter.

These self-service processes are at odds with the pervasive face-to-face cross-selling culture of most banks.  The reduced branch foot traffic presents a sales challenge, but in-branch foot traffic also has challenging costs which banks may no longer be able to absorb.  It is this struggle which presents a hurdle to the mobile banking technology for most institutions.  But, banks are getting it-they must offer mobile to all of their customers.

As banking IT professionals, we are curious to hear your opinions and your experiences. What are the priorities surrounding mobile banking in your organizations? What challenges does that bring to IT and business operations areas of banks? How could a staffing organization, such as EDGE, help support you through those challenges? Leave a quick comment or join our discussion on Facebook.