Pub. 6 2017 Issue 8

l e a d i n g a d v o c a t e f o r t h e b a n k i n g i n d u s t r y i n k a n s a s 14 B ANKS ACROSS THE U.S. are adopting a mobile- first strategy for their digital offerings, and the Midwest is no exception. U.S. consumers value their mobile bank apps more than ever, and expectations for these products are growing increasingly sophisticated, judging from responses to S&P Global Market Intelligence's 2017 mobile banking survey. Once novel mobile features such as photo check deposit and bill pay are now table stakes, and banks seeking to offer a competitive digital experience have to evaluate an ever-evolving range of services. Our survey found that Midwestern mobile banking customers are most interested in seeing credit score information added to their apps. Consumers’ preoccupation with their credit files is only likely to intensify in the wake of the Equifax data breach. Few of the regional bank apps we recently reviewed provide access to this information, although First National Bank of Omaha makes it available to consumer credit card customers. Another highly valued feature for bank app users is fingerprint login, which many Midwestern banks offer. But with the rollout of Apple’s new iPhone X and other evolutions in mobile technology, banks across the country are increasingly having to pay attention to alternative forms of biometric authentication, including face ID. Banks are responding to their customers’ desire for even more convenient access to account information by allowing them to view their balances without logging in to the app. Customers also want access to certain card controls via their bank apps, including the ability to temporarily switch cards on or off, and to report them lost or stolen. Jefferson City, Mo.-based Central Bank and Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Great Western Bank are among the institutions planning to roll out such features in the near future, while Saint Paul, Minn.-based Bremer Bank makes certain card controls and account alert management available through a separate, third-party app. The availability of certain features is just one way to assess the quality of a mobile offering. Customers who provide app store reviews clearly value speed, reliability and an intuitive layout, and they seem to prefer having all features available on one platform. Central Bank is redesigning its whole app for release next year, with the goal of providing a more user-friendly experience by streamlining navigation and better surfacing popular features such as person-to-person payments. The bank is taking the mobile-first approach seriously, as mobile logins have overtaken desktop logins, and about 65% of the company’s digital traffic is coming through phones. Great Western Bank, whose deposits are primarily spread across Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and Colorado, also hears from customers that they want improved core functionality, for By Katie Darden, Financial Institutions Research Manager, S&P Global Market Intelligence MOBILE-FIRST DIGITAL STRATEGY TAKES HOLD IN THE MIDWEST Continued on page 18