Keynote Competitive Research unveiled what it called the-first-of-its-kind mobile banking scorecard, creating a benchmarking standard for the financial and mobile banking industry.

The inaugural scorecard measures and ranks the seven largest retail banks in the United States based on nearly 100 criteria in four main categories, developed from user testing and research.

Banks measured in the inaugural scorecard include (in alphabetical order) Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citibank, PNC Bank, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo ranked No.1 overall on the inaugural scorecard. A more expanded scorecard including additional banks will be released in January 2012.

The measurements of the Keynote Mobile Banking Scorecard include categories in: functionality, ease of use, privacy and security, quality, and availability across text, mobile web, and applications.

“We found banks and their customers are not converging on one method of mobile banking; text, mobile web, and apps for the three leading smartphone operating systems are either available or on the to-do list at the largest banks,” says Chris Musto, general manager, Keynote Competitive Research at Keynote. “Customers have yet to see much of the mobile payment capabilities that are widely discussed in the industry. Customer experience is still centered on classic online banking services ported to the mobile environment. At this point, banks vary greatly in what they’ve brought online and how discoverable and usable they’ve made mobile banking features. The scorecard shows that as banks pursue novel mobile functionality, many need to redouble their focus on refining the usability of their existing features.”

The scorecard found text banking perhaps the least developed offering relative to its potential. Two banks do not yet offer text banking, while the five that do each highlight the gaps in the others’ offerings. For instance, only Wells Fargo offers a text-based branch locator. Only Chase offers real-time balance alerts with the ability to reply with an action, while only Bank of America allows customers to use text banking to search for deposit transactions. None of the banks allow customers to initiate a funds transfer via text.

An expansive report with scorecard analysis for the top 15 retail banks is scheduled to be issued in January 2012.


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