Is consumer mobile banking app growth starting to level off? For the second consecutive year, overall growth did not show a substantial gain according to the Austin, Texas-based Malauzai Software.
However, even though there was only a 6% growth in mobile banking apps (352 new ones), there is no shortage since there are more than 6,000 banking apps total.
For its July Monkey Insights report Malauzai, a mobile and internet banking provider, analyzed June 2017 data gathered from 435-plus credit unions and banks, covering 14.5 million logins and 790,000 active internet and mobile banking users.
“This is the fifth summer that Malauzai conducted primary research to count the number of mobile banking apps in the App Store and Google Play for community banks and credit unions,” Robb Gaynor, Malauzai chief product officer, said. Gaynor reviews the company’s data monthly to determine what interesting trends relevant to financial institutions. He added, “Later this summer, they will issue a detailed research report but some of the most interesting facts are presented below.”
Other key findings include:
- 50% growth in business mobile banking apps. “While this sounds strong, the reality is the total number of standalone business banking mobile apps is just 398; it only increased by about 120,” Gaynor pointed out. Prior to 2016, where growth was also an anemic 6%, growth was 15% or greater each year. “Pretty much everyone has mobile. The gaps are, as expected, in the lower end of the asset size of financial institutions. FIs under $100 million in assets have the lowest rates of apps.”
- Card management is gaining traction: “This is the first year looking at this data point, and we are very encouraged. There are 422 mobile banking apps with card controls, which is more than stand-alone business mobile apps.
- 103% growth in P2P. By far person-to-person payments excelled. 103% more financial institutions added P2P capability. Gaynor noted now there are 785 institutions that offer a version of this but usage remains relatively low. “We except to see this soar in the future.”
