Adaptation of mobile banking continues to gain steam nationwide and in the Ozarks, with local institutions reporting different levels of interest among their customer bases.
According to a survey by online consumer research firm Knowledge Networks for the Federal Reserve Board, one in five U.S. consumers indicated they used their cell phones to access their bank accounts, credit cards or other financial accounts in the 12 months ending in January, and another 20 percent indicated that they are likely to use mobile banking at some point in the future.
Survey findings also suggest that mobile banking use could expand to one out of three cell phone users by 2013.
Old Missouri Bank is one institution positioning itself to be ready for that anticipated growth. Ryan Uzzell, assistant vice president and information technology officer with OMB, said 20 percent of the bank’s online banking customers have shifted to mobile banking since the bank introduced its mobile banking service Feb. 1.
While mobile banking is not widely used within OMB’s customer base, which is heavy on agricultural lending, more customers every month are registering for the service, he said.
“We’re focusing on that as a technology that we’re really hitting this year,” Uzzell said, adding that he expects mobile services to expand based on feasibility and as security issues are addressed.
According to the Federal Reserve Board survey, mobile banking is most commonly used – by 90 percent of the survey’s respondents – to check account balances or recent transactions. Transferring money between accounts is the second-most-common use of mobile banking, with 42 percent, the survey said.
The real-time aspect of mobile banking empowers customers with quick updates, said Carlye Wannenmacher, vice president and director of marketing for Guaranty Bank.
“That significant credit card payment – you want to know that it’s posted in a timely manner,” said Wannenmacher, who declined to disclose the percentage of Guaranty’s online customers using mobile banking. “The convenience of having that in your purse or your pocket is something people would not want to give up.”
Guaranty Bank’s mobile banking customers also have the option of checking taxes and interest paid year-to-date and for the prior year, as well as initiating stop-payments, according to
GBankMo.com.
At Arvest Bank, adoption was slow at first but has been accelerating during the past year, spokesman Jason Kincy said, noting there is room for more growth as people acquire smartphones and data plans. He mentioned two factors that drive adoption: providing mobile banking across many types of devices and educating customers on use and security. Users with multiple accounts and multiple logins per household can make participation rates difficult to peg, bank executives said. For Arvest, which introduced mobile banking in 2008, usage among online banking customers is at 35 percent, Kincy said.
Bank of Bolivar CEO and President Brad Gregory also reported limited adoption of mobile banking. Becky Walker, Bank of Bolivar’s senior vice president and technology officer, reported a 5 percent usage rate for mobile banking, though she said it could be higher because mobile users who use their phones to access the bank’s main Web site, BankofBolivarMo.com, rather than BankofBolivarMo.mobi, would not be counted as mobile banking customers.
“We have to listen to what our customers are demanding of us,” Gregory said. “Mobile banking has not been accepted as much as we thought.”
Walker said she’s exploring smartphone apps for mobile users, who currently use a phone’s mobile browser for access. She said Bank of Bolivar spends about $5,000 per year to maintain the current technology. All other executives declined to disclose the amount of their banks’ investments in new technology.
Deposits on the goEmerging innovations for processing deposits also are enabling bank customers to take care of deposits from locations other than bank branches. Customers with some banks can now or will soon be able to make deposits via remote deposit image technology on their mobile phones or at automated teller machines.
Arvest recently began enhancing its ATMs with image capture while upgrading them to comply with new Americans with Disabilities Act rules, Kincy said. Imaging provides the customer with a copy of the check and quick transmission of the deposit. The bank benefits with reduced maintenance, as paper checks need not be collected daily, he said.
Arvest also has a tentative plan to implement mobile remote deposit technology by the end of the year, Kincy said, noting that security issues are numerous but utilize “the same fundamentals you would use for any sort of secure data transmission.” Among them: limiting service to qualified customers; connecting the user of the device with the appropriate financial account; connecting the device with the customer’s mobile banking account; encrypting images for transmission; and recognizing whether the check already has been deposited by another method.
Software to enhance and standardize images is needed for smooth processing, Kincy said, but he offered a simple reason as to why Arvest is implementing both technologies.
“Many customers, for different reasons, take advantage of different channels,” he said.
Even as the use of technology in banking continues to expand, local banking executives stressed the need to maintain face-to-face relationships with customers. Wannenmacher acknowledged, however, that some customers are likely to transact 100 percent of their business via remote access.
As a result, banks might use online forums such as social media to cultivate customer relations in lieu of face-to-face interactions at a bank branch.
“We want to engage with customers and potential customers in ways that they are willing to engage with us,” Wannenmacher said. “It’s challenging and fun all at the same time.”
