FNB yesterday announced that the FNB Banking App for Smartphones has gained 500 000 active clients in less than 2 years, since its launch in July 2011.
The Smartphone App shows some of the highest adoption rates for any new electronic channel, with the platform showing pleasing month-on-month improvements.
“This accomplishment is testimony to the increased penetration of Smartphones in South Africa as well as the ever expanding App ecosystem. We are in an era where mobility is a critical component of the consumer’s day-to-day life and consumers are becoming increasingly adept about the benefits that mobile can offer,” says Farren Roper, Head of FNB Connect ISP and Business Operations.
“The key ingredients to the success of this App are relevance, quality, value and usefulness. Our App is not only being used because of the popularity of Apps or because people have a smartphone, it’s being used because we build native Apps that are quality assured. An App can be deleted as quickly as it is installed, which is why we don’t report on downloads, but rather active users,” adds Roper.
There is no sign of slowing down for FNB when it comes to our Apps or mobile platforms. In April we launched our bespoke Tablet Banking App, for iPad, Android and Windows 8 tablet and PC devices. The Smartphone App also still continues to deliver new functionality monthly for our base of more than half a million customers. FNB also recently re-launched the FNB Mobi platform to be optimised for easy usability for Smartphones.
“The Smartphone App active client base will continue to grow as Smartphone and App penetration rises. Consumers want Apps. The top two App stores in the world have close to 100 billion downloads, compare that to the number of people on the planet and it tells a story. Smartphone sales and adoption are nowhere near maturity in South Africa and this is the reason why the FNB Banking App for Smartphones will continue to evolve,” explains Roper
FNB is also putting smartphones in the hands of their customers at affordable rates through the smart device deal and giving their clients free data to power usage on their Banking App through FNB Connect. “We are fuelling this ecosystem because we believe it is the way of the future, says Roper.”
“With this App, we were able to use our in-house App development skills to tap into the ecosystem. We just happened to have the right vision and spot the gap before our competitors,” concludes Roper.
- FNB was the first Bank with a Smartphone App in July 2011
- The Smartphone App is available for iOS (Apple), Android, Symbian BlackBerry devices
- The FNB App was voted the best App in South Africa at the MTN App of the Year awards for 2012 and also received a Gold Award at the Bookmark digital awards for handheld and phone Apps (Nov 2012). It was also a finalist in the BAI Finacale Awards for 2011 (Oct 2012) and the Financial World Innovation Awards in the award category ‘Most Innovative Application of Technology’ (Nov 2012).
- The FNB Tablet App already has more than 20 000 active users across iPad, Android and Windows 8 bringing the total active Apps base to 520 000.
- In October 2011 FNB became the first Bank to introduce a Smart device offer which allowed users to finance a Tablet over 24 months interest free
- FNB current provides their clients with free ADSL and 3G data though their internal ISP, FNB Connect
