Australian banking apps are better than we think

Reading articles from The Financial Brand is always a good way to keep abreast of trends in the US banking industry, not least with a recent piece on app functionality (based on a recent industry survey) called “Major Banks’ Mobile Apps Evolve into ‘Payment Central’ for Consumers“.

But reading the article you could be excused for thinking the survey highlights radical new developments in retail banking functionality:

• “Payments functionality on mobile banking apps keeps expanding, as consumers want to execute more complex transactions.”
• “Major banks’ consumer mobile apps are becoming home to mobile payment control centers.”

Whereas the truth is that anyone with a passing knowledge of the retail banking space in Australia would recognise that the “more sophisticated tasks” referenced in the survey are really just functions that most Australian banking apps have delivered for years. For example:

• Text descriptions of payment options are commonly found in many apps.
• Many apps also offer a payee list with search functionality.
• It’s standard for apps to include icons for payment options.
• Scheduling recurring payments has been a feature for years.
• Paying credit card bills from external accounts, similar to BPAY, has likely been available since before the launch of the first iPhone.
• All apps allow for easy transfers to accounts at other banks.
• In-app card provisioning is a standard feature in most apps.
• P2P payments with the ability to manage daily transaction limits are very common.
• Real-time payments have been available since the adoption of the NPP.

Now the point of this is not to devalue the enhancements described in the survey – these are all great. But rather to highlight that we sometimes fail to acknowledge the fact that Australian banking apps are often better than their international comparators, a point that can easily get lost in the daily swirl of heightened expectations and innovation.