Media365
Mainland Chinese customers enjoy the best mobile banking apps in Asia, but banks across the region still lag behind their Western counterparts when it comes to a great mobile experience, according to a global study.
Three mainland lenders – Ping An Pocket Bank, China Merchant Bank (CMB) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) – swept the top three positions in Asia in the ranking by Sia, an international management consulting firm.
The firm’s Mobile Banking Benchmark assessed 137 apps from 22 markets, including 28 from Asia, on more than 100 criteria. The study expanded its Asia coverage this year from Hong Kong and Singapore to also include mainland China, Japan and Malaysia. The Post got an exclusive preview of the eighth edition of the study before it is published later this month.
“The mainland Chinese banks newly added to the study have set a high standard, demonstrating robust capabilities and a level of user experience excellence that places them among the top competitors,” said Eugene Lo, Sia’s manager of financial services.
“This is likely attributable to the intense competitive pressure in mainland China, a market saturated with strong non-bank players like Alipay and WeChat Pay. As these players continue to advance into the banking arena, both traditional and digital banks are forced to accelerate development of their digital capabilities, or risk losing market share.”
Ping An Pocket Bank, CMB and ICBC’s apps received scores of 72, 69 and 68, respectively. The app from Ping An Pocket Bank, part of the nation’s largest insurance player Ping An Insurance (Group), offers investment and insurance features and a digital vault holding government documents. ICBC’s app has a customised avatar to gamify wealth management.
