Top Trending Mobile Apps in Digital Banking

Mobile banking became a standard service in the banking sector, whether it’s used for personal accounts or businesses. There are over 57 million mobile banking users in the U.S., and over 86% of U.S. banks are offering bill payments via banking apps. Providing users with total control of their financial assets, anytime and from every part of the world brought the banking experience to a completely new level. There’s no need to wait in long queues with a bunch of papers and documents to open a banking account – now we can get that with just a few clicks on any mobile device. It’s fast, easy, painless and in the palm of our hands.

Banking consumers are seeking an experience that is sophisticated, simple and personalized, so they can feel valued and important without live face-to-face conversations. For native mobile consumers, design, functionality, and experience can be deciding factors when they’re choosing the app that a bank or a credit union offers. Both the look and the feel of a banking app have a strong value.

In this blog, I gathered some of the leading banking apps and neobanks with mobile apps in the U.S. and Europe, so let’s find out how these apps stand out with their features, especially today when almost every bank has its own mobile banking app.

Advanced 3D Secure Technology with N26

Every once in a while, everyone probably finds themselves digging around their pockets, old purses and jackets from the last season, looking for hidden treasures and a gold bar laying somewhere under the carpet. But we all know that’s very unlikely to happen. With N26 Spaces, there’s no need to keep those rainy-day savings under the pillows. It is a tool that allows its users to set aside money and place it in a sub-account alongside their main account. Users can create as many spaces as they like and save money for birthdays, parties and long-planned trips. This way, avoiding the temptation to spend that money is easier because it’s separate from the main account, and if you can’t see it – you can’t spend it.

This German neobank enables its customers to open a free account directly from their smartphones, and they already have more than 5 million users in over 26 countries worldwide. There are no hidden costs or foreign exchange fees, which can be very useful for travelers. N26 also implemented fingerprint identification and advanced 3D Secure technology to make its users feel extra safe and secured while purchasing – whether in-store or online. It’s also possible to have 5 free withdrawals per month and it’s easy to manage expenses as AI is used to present detailed insights into account statistics and users’ financial habits.

Environmental Protection Initiatives for Bunq Users

We can all agree that it should be easy for people to make a positive impact on the environment. To make that possible, Bunq recently launched its eco-friendly ‘Green Card’ – a metallic card whose holders contribute to environmental preservation by having trees planted for every €100 that they spend on it. Every time the system confirms the payment, they donate a tree to the partners at Eden Reforestation Projects. All the money that is spent goes directly to provide a fair wage to local workers and plant trees in Madagascar, Nepal, Haiti, Indonesia, Mozambique and Kenya – to help heal the lungs of our planet. With this feature, Bunq unlocked a completely new set of users that are focused on the environment and reforestation. Also, they gained an eco-friendly image that is not so common in the banking sector, which made this feature one of a kind.

Besides that, Bunq mobile bank offers its clients special sub-accounts for everyday budgeting. One for groceries, one for shopping, holidays or anything else they want. Each sub-account is a full bank account with its own IBAN, allowing customers to budget their direct debits, external payments and card transactions very easily. Bunq charges €0.99 per withdrawal and it’s connected with Transferwise for simple and fast money transfers.

Invest in cryptocurrencies with Revolut

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance, Ripple, Litecoin, Aave, Kleros… it’s hard to keep up with all the cryptocurrencies these days. Since 2009 and the first thought of Bitcoin, there were hundreds of articles prematurely declaring the end of it and doubting it could even survive till the end of the year. But, it did, and according to numerous researches, it became the top-performing asset of the decade – creating a completely new set of users for the banking sector. Since the release of Bitcoin, over 6,000 altcoins (cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin) have been created.

In the fintech world, Revolut stepped up the game by presenting its users with the possibility to invest in 5 different cryptocurrencies. Any user can instantly exchange any of its 30 currencies directly into Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and XRP with just a few clicks on the phone. Also, cryptocurrencies can be sent easily to any other Revolut account.

Revolut Ltd is a financial technology company and a neobank. In addition to a prepaid Revolut debit card, their services include fee-free currency exchange, commission-free stock trading and cryptocurrency exchanges. It has no-fee ATM withdrawals up to £200 per month, and if anyone needs to withdraw more than that, they charge 2% of the amount. And with the interbank exchange rate, customers can transfer money abroad in 30 currencies and spend it in over 150 currencies.

Talk to Erica from the Bank of America Mobile App

Erica is Bank of America’s virtual financial assistant that uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to help guide customers – in its first year, she had completed more than 50 million client requests. Erica can help its users quickly find deposits, holds, purchases, refunds and credit card transactions, and with Erica Insights, it’s easy to get access to a full range of personalized, proactive insights and available guidance.

How many times have we all already misplaced or lost our credit card, and then started panicking because it’s the middle of the night and everything’s already closed? The most important thing to do in that case is to lock all future transactions and report it to someone, but – how to do it and who to call? This is when Erica does all the hard work – regardless of what time of the day, or night, it is.

Also, this mobile banking uses custom alerts to track account balance and payment dues. Users can create a digital wallet, set up a budget and monitor spendings in their accounts with the Spending and Budgeting tool, and to feel extra safe, it’s also possible to protect accounts with a fingerprint sign-in on mobile devices.

Stay on Schedule with the Capital One Mobile App

Time is the most valuable asset we own, and that’s the main reason we adore the word “instant” these days. Why waste it lost in the piles of bills and papers when it’s possible to automate all future payments and spend time with friends and family? With Capital One’s mobile app, users can set up AutoPay to have their payments made automatically each month, and use payment posting timeframes to stay on schedule. It’s pretty easy – all a user needs to do is pick a date, choose the frequency and the transfer will occur. They can transfer money weekly, every other week, twice a month, monthly or quarterly, and they can also add a memo to every transaction. 

Furthermore, Capital One offers a service of check deposits by simply taking a photo, and its users can send money securely to almost anyone in the United States using Zelle – a U.S.-based digital payments network for faster and easier money transactions. Plus, users can also access their accounts easily through their Apple Watch.

Monitoring Investments with Ally Mobile

Whether interested in tracking investments or trading stocks, Ally Bank’s mobile app offers a wide range of features to make their banking experience one of a kind. In addition to standard banking features, Ally Mobile includes numerous investing features – from trading stocks and monitoring investments to advanced charting tools for technical analysis. Ally Mobile users can easily access trade stocks and multi-leg options from their mobile devices and keep up with today’s market news and market movers. Checking their balances and scrolling through account transaction history is possible in a couple of clicks, and all transactions are encrypted with the same secure technology as online banking.

When using Ally Mobile’s Card Controls, it’s easy to set up and manage debit card preferences and control when, where, and how cards are used. Any user can access their account by using fingerprint or face authentication, but they can also create their own unique passcode for an even more personalized experience.

Saving Money with Chime

From time to time, saving money can feel like an uphill battle. Let’s take Vanessa as an example. Just when she thought she saved enough for that long-planned trip to Bali, her old minivan decided to break down and, poof – Bali fund just turned into New car fund. To help people like Vanessa think less about money, but saving more – Chime app can automatically take 10% of the paycheck each month and deposit that amount in the savings account. When Chime customers turn on Automatic Savings, each time their debit card is used to make a purchase, the bank rounds up the transaction amount to the nearest dollar. Then it transfers the round-up from the Spending Account to the Savings Account – the more they use their Chime Visa Debit Card, the more money is saved automatically. 

This mobile-only bank has no minimum balance, no overdraft, and no monthly service fees – and Chime users can withdraw their money from over 38,000 ATMs for free. Another special benefit is that any user can access their paychecks 2 days earlier with Chime Direct Deposit.

No IBAN? No problem – use KEKS Pay

In a situation when collecting money from numerous people is necessary, KEKS Pay comes as a life-saver. Planning vacations, parties, buying presents – everything is much easier with this app. KEKS Pay enables its users to collect funds through a chat group, so buying birthday gifts and planning trips seems like a piece of cake. App users just add their friends in a group, send an invitation for the transaction to the whole chat, and in a few clicks all the money is collected and the plan is saved. 

KEKS Pay mobile app is a product of Erste bank. However, app users doesn’t need to be Erste’s customers to use this app. Any bank customer can install it for free and use it to send or request funds without needing to enter anyone’s account number, and it’s completely free – there are no hidden fees. KEKS Pay also enables users to transfer money to other people even if they don’t have KEKS Pay on their phones – they will be notified with an SMS to download the app, and once it’s done, money will be transferred.

How to find out what your users want?

It may seem hard to create a perfect application to fit your consumers’ needs, but there are a few important factors banks should consider:

• For users interested in saving their money, some apps have budgeting and savings tools that help them keep track of spendings and manage their savings
• For travelers, it is good to have a debit card they can use wherever they go – that way there’s no worry whether a card will be declined while buying souvenirs for their family and friends, or running short on cash because no ATMs want to accept it
• When choosing between different banking apps, users will take into account the option to save on fees such as card replacement, overdraught and top-up fees
• And finally, a combination of high-security standards and rich features in the application can retain the current bank customers, and also win new ones