First National Bank (FNB) has revealed its banking application for smartphones has gathered 500,000 users since its launch almost two years ago.
The South African bank put the high usage down to the increasing penetration of smartphones in the country as well as the growing popularity and usability of mobile apps.
Farren Roper, head of FNB Connect ISP and business operations, said: “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.”
The half a million figure refers to active users, rather than app downloads.
“The key ingredients to the success of this app are relevance, quality, value and usefulness,” Roper said. “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.”
Roper believes the FNB smartphone app will continue to grow due to the rise of the smartphone and app penetration.
“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,” he said.
According to Roper, smartphone adoption and sales still have a long way to go in terms of achieving maturity in South Africa.
He said: “This is the reason why the FNB banking app for smartphones will continue to evolve.”
FNB has also offered their customers affordable smartphone deals as well as free data to power usage on their banking app, which is made possible through FNB Connect.
“We are fuelling this ecosystem because we believe it is the way of the future. With this app, we were able to use our in-house App development skills to tap into the ecosystem,” said Roper.
