Chase leads mobile banking industry: ARC Survey

The advent of mobile phones, particularly smartphones, marks a significant technological advancement. Today, there are apps for almost everything thinkable. One of the sectors that have seen a major impact of this advancement is the banking industry. Banking and payment apps have brought a paradigm shift in the way customers now deal with banks and manage their funds.

In a recent survey, the Application Resource Center (ARC), the research arm of digital experience testing company Applause, analyzed 13 million app store reviews of the 90 most downloaded banking and payments apps, which includes the flagship apps of the 61 largest North American financial service institutions, plus another 29 leading mobile payment apps.

Notably, as Apple Pay doesn’t allow for users to rate it or leave feedback, it wasn’t included in the survey. Here are the key takeaways from the report (score is on a scale of 0-100):

• Chase leads the mobile banking industry as Chase Mobile took both top spots across banking and payment apps
   
• Nine U.S. banking apps earn top marks with weighted averages of 55 or greater, which includes Chase Mobile, Capital One Mobile, Discover Mobile, Amex Mobile, Citizens Bank Mobile Banking, Navy Federal Credit Union, SunTrust Mobile App, USAA Mobile, Citi Mobile
   
• Seven payment apps earn top marks with an average score of 65 or greater, which includes Capital One Wallet, Samsung Pay, Mint Bills, Square Cash, Venmo, PayPal, Square Register
   
• Canadian banks have room to improve in the eyes of customers as eight Canadian banks averaged just 36.1 out of 100.

On the basis of the top rated apps, the report found that consumers value -- viewing all aspects of their account balances, transaction histories, rewards status and available credit through a single sign-on (SSO) function; the ability to pay bills, transfer money, deposit checks, login via Touch ID/SureSwipe/four-digit passcodes, search transactions, redeem rewards, set up bill payment reminders, view credit scores, freeze/unfreeze accounts, use travel notifications, and find/contact their nearest branches/ATMs; receiving activity, payment and rewards alerts; and complete transparency when banking apps request permissions.

On the other hand, poorly reviewed apps are plagued with complaints of battery drainage, freezes, slow performance, blank screens, error messages, login issues, too frequent TOS agreements, broken check deposit experiences, updates that seemingly weren’t tested prior to release and overreaching permission requests.

“2017 is shaping up to be a year that financial service institutions reset the expectations of their customers by delivering consistently high-quality digital experiences across Web, mobile and on-location (i.e., bank, credit union, retail store)”, the report said.