As the rest of the world got involved with the mobile banking race early on and continues to focus on developing innovative solutions for customers, the UK were slow to adopt and have been criticised for not taking advantage of the opportunities mobile banking can deliver.
As a result, they are having to race to catch up with offerings already in the market place.
Are UK banks still trailing behind?
Yes. Forrester carried out research just last month comparing 15 large retail banks from different countries and found the UK are still trailing behind when it comes to mobile banking. Those highlighted included Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and NatWest, with NatWest scoring a little above the average. Overall though, mobile services offered by UK banks were found to be noticeably less advanced than those offered by their counterparts in North America and Europe.
As mobile banking users are expected to reach a whopping 1 billion by 2017, banks cannot afford to continue at the current lackluster pace and must step it up a gear if they are to compete globally. As customers become more tech savvy, they are demanding more advanced functionality from mobile banking and banks are simply failing to meet customer expectations.
Most big UK banks have now, at least, introduced basic mobile banking services and you will find that you can access online banking from your phone. RBS have developed an app for withdrawing funds from a cash machine simply by using your mobile phone. However, mobile banking on the whole is pretty simplistic and the innovations happening elsewhere, such as mobile cheque deposit, are nowhere to be found in the UK. Even worse, the UK banking market is largely led by a small number of 'big banks' leaving a much larger number of smaller banks and building societies who seem to be saying a flat out "no" to mobile banking.
Good news. The Payments Council announced in January 2013 that they are signing up UK banks to enable banking customers to send and receive money by sharing just their phone number by 2014. This is a huge step forward in helping UK banks catch up with latest innovations in the market place. At the moment you have big banks such as Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Santander taking part but we are also seeing new start-up, Metro Bank, taking part as well as Danske Bank and Cumberland Building Society. Hopefully this will inject some healthy competition amongst the smaller banks and building societies and encourage them to shorten the gap between mobile banking offerings and customer expectations.
Mobile banking services help banks build enduring relationships with their customers and attract desirable new customers as well as reducing those all important overheads. So why not develop a mobile solution that will set you apart?
Mobile banking is here to stay. Learn more about how HSL Mobile can help you develop a winning mobile banking service and beat off the competition. Try out our Solution Planner or get in touch.
Are UK banks still trailing behind?
Yes. Forrester carried out research just last month comparing 15 large retail banks from different countries and found the UK are still trailing behind when it comes to mobile banking. Those highlighted included Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and NatWest, with NatWest scoring a little above the average. Overall though, mobile services offered by UK banks were found to be noticeably less advanced than those offered by their counterparts in North America and Europe.
As mobile banking users are expected to reach a whopping 1 billion by 2017, banks cannot afford to continue at the current lackluster pace and must step it up a gear if they are to compete globally. As customers become more tech savvy, they are demanding more advanced functionality from mobile banking and banks are simply failing to meet customer expectations.
Most big UK banks have now, at least, introduced basic mobile banking services and you will find that you can access online banking from your phone. RBS have developed an app for withdrawing funds from a cash machine simply by using your mobile phone. However, mobile banking on the whole is pretty simplistic and the innovations happening elsewhere, such as mobile cheque deposit, are nowhere to be found in the UK. Even worse, the UK banking market is largely led by a small number of 'big banks' leaving a much larger number of smaller banks and building societies who seem to be saying a flat out "no" to mobile banking.
Good news. The Payments Council announced in January 2013 that they are signing up UK banks to enable banking customers to send and receive money by sharing just their phone number by 2014. This is a huge step forward in helping UK banks catch up with latest innovations in the market place. At the moment you have big banks such as Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Santander taking part but we are also seeing new start-up, Metro Bank, taking part as well as Danske Bank and Cumberland Building Society. Hopefully this will inject some healthy competition amongst the smaller banks and building societies and encourage them to shorten the gap between mobile banking offerings and customer expectations.
Mobile banking services help banks build enduring relationships with their customers and attract desirable new customers as well as reducing those all important overheads. So why not develop a mobile solution that will set you apart?
Mobile banking is here to stay. Learn more about how HSL Mobile can help you develop a winning mobile banking service and beat off the competition. Try out our Solution Planner or get in touch.
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