Citi Group also wants to join the ranks of the “e-banks” of U.S.
The bank’s mobile app userbase soared in 2016, Bank Innovation has learned.
According to a company spokeswoman, “last year alone, North America mobile app customers have grown by 50%, and mobile app downloads have doubled — we saw over 3.25 million downloads in 2016,” she said in an email.
The spokeswoman did not comment on the total number of users or the total number of app downloads.
The company credits the accelerated app usage to the 86 new digital features — including the recent additions of Quick Lock (enables cardmembers to lock and unlock their card), the ability to file a dispute in app, and also track a replacement card — added during the year.
“The Holy Grail for us is really enabling the entire customer experience – including everything that a customer can do right now by phone or in the branch – in mobile,” the spokeswoman said.
The bank’s strongest digital market is currently in Asia, followed by the U.S. and Mexico, CFO John Gerspach said during a conference call on Wednesday. From the call:
It’s the way most of our clients want to do business right now. In Asia, if you didn’t have a great digital offering you would be dead. And clearly, the way the U.S. is going that’s the same way it is. We just announced our new mobile application here in the U.S. And I would say it’s met with very good reviews so far. And it gives you the ability not just to see what is my balance but you can lock your credit card. You can unlock your credit card.
If you’re a Citigold client, you got instant access to your relationship manager. You’ve got access to investment and trading products all on that phone. And that’s some of the investments that we intend to make into Mexico as well.
Citi has also recently added voice and facial recognition features to its app for Citigold and Citi Priority clients.
Back in 2013, we have estimated the total number of mobile users for Citi at 2.9 million. That being a (rough) starting ground, the current number of users is (probably) still far from Wells’s 19.6 million, and Bank of America’s 21.6 million active mobile users.