Customers flock to iPhone banking

By Charis Palmer on Feb 22, 2010 6:33 AM
Filed under Strategy

Third party transfers and BPAY coming to iPhone.

Westpac has moved to enhance the features offered on its mobile banking application for iPhone, following a better than expected uptake by customers.

The bank is preparing to launch third party transfers and a BPAY bill payments capability, initially for existing payees, with the ability to transfer funds to new payees coming later this year.

Ean van Vuuren, Westpac head of consumer online, said the bank has been pleased with the uptake of mobile banking, with 105,000 downloads recorded since the bank launched its iPhone application in November last year.

"Sessions have grown from 80,000 a month to 150,000 a month," van Vuuren told iTNews.

The Commonwealth Bank has also seen impressive growth in mobile banking registrations and usage, with over 250,000 downloads of its iPhone application, and around 1 million logons being recorded per month. The bank launched mobile banking in March 2009.

A spokesperson for the bank told ITNews mobile banking use by its customers has doubled in the last six months, with 200,000 active users now logging on around five times per month. Around 375,000 of the bank's 2.5 million active online banking customers have used mobile banking at least once.

Westpac, the Commonwealth Bank and Bank of Queensland offer native iPhone applications to enable mobile banking. ANZ, NAB and Suncorp offer mobile banking that is compatible with the Safari browser on the Apple iPhone, as well as a range of other smartphones.

ING Direct recently joined St George Bank in offering an iPhone application that features a home loan calculator.

Bankers are also closely watching the development of applications that allow business people to use their mobile phones to accept credit card payments, such as iCCPay.

Market intelligence firm ABI Research said the number of mobile banking subscribers around the world has been doubling every year since 2008, and has predicted around 407 million people worldwide will carry out financial transactions with their banks using their mobile phones in 2015.

ABI Research senior analyst Mark Beccue said, "The Asia-Pacific region accounted for the lion's share of the world's 52.2 million mobile banking subscribers in 2009.

"The global number of subscribers more than doubled between 2008 and 2009, and is expected to almost double again in 2010. This growth can be seen everywhere, but Asia - led by India - is pushing it particularly hard."

10 comments in this discussion

"@Ace In terms of malicious software, the way the iPhone handles apps makes it more secure by design. I'm not saying it's a no risk platform, just that it has great advantages over a shared family ..."

By rninne

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Comments: 10

nate.cochrane Feb 22, 2010 9:14 AM	I was in France before the iPhone 3G launched and most of the major French banks already had iPhone apps they promoted strongly at all their ATMs. Westpac's new iPhone banking web app is a big step up on the horrid experience of its website shrunk to size. The additions will make it a valuable mobile banking platform.
Ace Feb 22, 2010 10:54 AM	I would be a little concerned that a bank would write software specifically for a platform that is owned (h/w & s/w) by one foreign company, who regularly change direction, drop products and platforms. How many iPhone users do Westpac have, compared to say, Nokia phone users? Do iPhone users need greater care than other users? Are they not able to cope with the bank systems the way everyone else is able to?
nate.cochrane Feb 22, 2010 11:35 AM	I think you'll find that Westpac's is just a web app. The UI is the major enhancement. But you raise a good question regards Nokia and other platform users. Ultimately, businesses make their decisions based on the economies. If the platform is profitable then they will code for it, no?
rninne Feb 22, 2010 12:55 PM	Brining internet banking to secure mobile platforms such as the iPhone and Android means safer banking. I feel much safer banking using my iPhone than my home or work PC. I feel less vulnerable to threats such as key-loggers and snooping software, even though I run and virus/spyware software on both those PCs. However there is still the element of social networking that you still need to be vigilant about. I've had the opportunity to witness a few peoples personal information on busses and trains by watching their screens while they poke away their usernames and passwords on the touchscreen keyboards. ~Robert
Ace Feb 22, 2010 1:06 PM	@nate, despite my comment, I think we all know the reason. It's hype. Westpac know they can get good mileage in the press if they mention iPhone in the same sentence as Westpac. Ditto Commbank. For some reason media types are obsessed with anything iPhone. @rninne. iPhone is about as secure as any other thing connected to the internet. It's intriguing to see you believe it's more secure. Have Apple led you to this conclusion? Or is there someone else spruiking this line?
cootified Feb 22, 2010 1:08 PM	Sorry, but CBA customer already have access to this app on their iPhone since 2009.
BrettWinterford Feb 22, 2010 3:30 PM	@ Ace - the NSW Police recommend the iPhone for online banking! Crazy but true. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/157767,nsw-police-dont-use-windows-for-internet-banking.aspx
Ace Feb 22, 2010 4:11 PM	Heh, not using Windows for internet banking may be an immediate improvement in security, but that's merely to do with which platform is more popular, nothing to do with the security of the platform itself. @coot, there is really no need to apologise. Being the first on some silly merry-go-round may make it seem like the marketeers run the bank, but I'm sure the IT people are doing their best to ward off attacks behind the scenes.
nate.cochrane Feb 22, 2010 6:34 PM	The interesting aspect of the banks' move to net banking is the anti-fraud work they do behind the scenes.
rninne Feb 24, 2010 12:08 PM	@Ace In terms of malicious software, the way the iPhone handles apps makes it more secure by design. I'm not saying it's a no risk platform, just that it has great advantages over a shared family pc where you have little control over what happens on it. In terms of hacking into an unjailbroken iPhone without having it in your hands, well I haven't heard of that happening. ~Robert