FNB Launches Banking App
FNB have launched the first South African mobile banking app that functions on iPhones as well as Android and BlackBerry touchscreen phones and tablets. STEVEN AMBROSE tries it out across all three platforms.
First National Bank (FNB) yesterday announced the launch of South Africa’s first mobile banking app or, as it is formally termed, the FNB Banking Application (App), for smartphones and tablet computer device”.
The Banking App is described as FNB’s latest mobile digital channel, which combines the benefits of banking with the power of a smartphone or tablet computer device to deliver a unique user experience that only an application can off.
According to Michael Jordaan, CEO of FNB, the App represents a strategic drive to be the leader in innovative banking through the use of technology.
“At FNB we are constantly looking at ways to improve on our innovations, staying one step ahead of our competitors and consistently adding value and choice for our customers,” he said at the launch
“We are glad to say that this application is a home grown creation and has been developed in house by FNB Connect, the bank’s internal Internet Service Provider. Our app will provide our customers with better performance than traditional web based means of banking. The market can expect to see a lot more of our existing innovations incorporated into it and a number of new mobile innovations dovetail from the App roadmap.”
Clearly, apps are hot, with more than 500 000 in Apple’s App Store and more than 300 000 in the Android Market. App shops from Nokia, BlackBerry and Windows have also entered the fray.
Smartphone penetration is also growing rapidly, with World Wide Worx predicting that by 2015 half the phones shipped in South Africa will be smartphones. Suddenly, the app on smartphones and tablets makes sense – the only surprise is how long it took to arrive in highly mobile South Africa.
The FNB banking app, launched yesterday for three major app stores for phones and tablets, needs a transactional bank account with FNB to use its full functionality. However, even if you don’t bank with FNB, the app is fully location-aware and will tell you where the closest FNB branch or ATM can be found.
I downloaded the app on three devices, namely the iPhone 4, Google Android Nexus S from Samsung and the Blackberry Torch, and was guided easily through the set-up process on each device. Once installed on your phone, you enter your user name into the app, then you log into FNB online banking on your computer, and a pop-up screen identifies the device, complete with details and pictures.
You are then asked to link your phone to your profile. Two one-time pins need to be entered. After you exit the app on your device and restart, the app will show you are connected. It is as easy as that. Now all you need to do is launch the app and log in with your online banking password. No further user names or one-time pins are needed, as the app is now linked directly to your mobile device.
Once logged in a news screen pops up, which is a bit distracting. You need to Escape or use the Back key to get rid of it, and then all your accounts show up with full details.
The app gives a fully functional view of all your accounts, with almost all the functionality of the online banking web site. The only exception is that you can’t change or add a beneficiary using the app, but this functionality is promised for the future. Business accounts linked to a personal banking profile will work, but full Business Banking profiles are not available as yet.
Clever use of the various interfaces is made, with graphics of your actual credit cards being used for selecting accounts from which or to which to pay. The app is very consistent across all platforms, with identical functionality and almost exactly the same user experience, obviously taking the platforms’ specific user interfaces into account.
Overall, the app is slick and polished with few rough edges. The only exception I could find is that on Android you have to push the menu key manually and select exit, in order to close and exit the app, at which point it does not actually go away – it simply greys out, and remains in your notification bar. On the iPhone and the Blackberry the app closes down gracefully.
The FNB banking app is the first and only banking app available in South Africa, although there is no doubt that other banks will shortly follow.
It also has the distinction of being almost fully cross-platform, unlike a few South African news apps that have recently launched for the iPad. The main exceptions in terms of cross-platform are that it is not available for Windows Phone 7 or Nokia’s Symbian OS. FNB has promised that the app will be available in Nokia’s Ovi store before the end of August 2011.
It is also available on other devices, including primarily music players like the iPod touch.
There is one other critical limitation in this app: it will only work on a Touchscreen phone, so no BlackBerry with keypads only, such as the Blackberry Bold or, once Symbian is supported, keypad-only phones like the Nokia E72, need apply. FNB have not yet confirmed if they will make this functionality available in the future. This is a big oversight and will limit their overall adoption in the short term.
Nevertheless, the launch of the FNB banking app is a big, bold step for FNB as well as for the apps market in South Africa. As the smartphone market grows, apps of all varieties will become more and more relevant, and their growth and pervasiveness will help contribute to the broad growth in the use of the internet in South Africa.
Says Jordaan, “In an increasingly digital world in which Smartphones, Tablet devices and Apps are changing the way we communicate and live, the introduction of the FNB Banking App will enable us to widen our offering allowing us to provide our customers with convenient banking solutions and great user experience.”
The app itself is a good attempt at bringing the full functionality of Internet banking to the mobile phone and other mobile tablet style devices. It is secure, efficient, and very usable, in some cases far more so than the online site, which can get a bit confusing at times. If you bank with FNB and have a touch screen smartphone, I highly recommend you install their banking app.
* To use the service customers who have Apple devices can download the App from the Apple App store, Android customers from the Android Market and Blackberry customers can get the App from the Blackberry App world. Another alternative is to follow the links to the App stores from FNB Online. Transactional banking is restricted to FNB customers post login, but anyone can download the App from their device’s App stores to access pre login services.
http://www.gadget.co.za/pebble.asp?relid=3364
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