Banks Working Hard to Promote Mobile Banking: IDC

Banks in Asia/Pacific are ramping up their mobile banking propositions as they race for mindshare among the region’s increasingly technologically savvy customers, says market researcher IDC.

The mobile channel is the top priority channel for most banks in 2012, and leading banks in Asia/Pacific have deployed their best resources to this “channel of the future”, launching standout features and functionalities, ensuring growth in activity rates among customers, and better managing the technology requirements of this channel.

More insights are revealed in a recently published IDC Financial Insights report, “Business Strategy: Have Leading Asia/Pacific Banks Raised the Standards for Mobile?” It examines the leading mobile financial services offerings in the region, as well as the best practices set by these mobile banking leaders. IDC made this announcement today, August 8.

“The initial focus for leading banks was to offer baseline functionalities for mobile banking that are similar to those found in PC-based online banking: transaction history, payment origination, and funds transfers. However, some banks have succeeded in launching standout features that leverage new mobile form factors, which fit very well into the increasingly mobile lifestyles of Asia/Pacific customers,” said Michael Araneta, associate consulting and research director for IDC Financial Insights Asia/Pacific.

This IDC Financial Insights report also highlights the technology considerations crucial for banks as they launch their mobile banking offerings. Firstly, there still appears to be no industry convergence on a single model or platform for mobile banking.

Consequently, banks are leaving the mobile Web versus native app debate unresolved, and are instead striving to offer both. Secondly, many vendors crowd the mobile space, which suggests that the market will consolidate soon.

IDC Financial Insights suggest that banks follow the lead of their main core provider or look for a vendor that supports multiple channels, not just mobile.

“Mobile wallets present a new layer of intermediation that banks need to work through. Rather than focus on launching their own mobile wallets, banks should aim to work well with various existing mobile wallets, so that they can influence their customers through them,” suggests Araneta.