Madrid, March 28, 2012.- According to the recent report unveiled by Latinia titled “Mobile Banking in Latin America”, already in its 4th edition, and that analyzes the penetration of mobile financial services among the 100 top entities of the region, the popular “Apps” emerge as the key actors of the latest ‘technological breakthrough’ carried out by Latin-American banks within the scope of mobility. “The presence of smartphones on the street has been clearly reflected within the financial environment, where the Apps have become part of the offer in 1 out of 4 financial institutions for doubling their presence”, asserted the marketing department of the Catalonian software manufacturer.
“Furthermore, one must consider that strategically, the possibilities of an App go a lot further than the pull format, where customers have ‘access’ to the bank; Apps entail likewise a 2nd channel, the push notifications or push alerts, which enable the bank to double its offer of notifications or alerts, nowadays overtaken by text messaging as a category, thus ensuring an invaluable dialog with its customers. The ‘push nots’ added-value make them a must for most of financial institutions in the short term”, continued the report.
In spite of that important explosion of the ‘App’ world, SMS Banking continues being the most prominent channel in the offer of mobile financial services of Latin-American entities, being present in 2 out of 3 banks, or in one out of two, “if they only invest in a single channel”. Regarding presence, these are followed by the aforementioned Apps (53%), mobile browsing, with 41%, also growing, tablet Apps, which from zero is now present in almost one out of 5 entities, although in a more informational rather than transactional manner, and banking by SIM cards, likewise growing, although with more modest figures. “All the formats are growing, but the impact arising from some cases make them key actors over and above the general climate of growth”, affirm the marketing experts of Latinia.
The nature of these multiple new projects of Apps is widespread; the disparity, very important. From initiatives that match 100% of the functionalities and scope of online banking to many others related to the loyalty programs of the entity, that is, non-transactional, or those others that exploit location-based services for locating banks’ branch offices.
