Sia Partners 2024 International Mobile Banking Benchmark

The digital transformation continues to make significant strides worldwide, and the banking sector is no exception. Banks are continuously challenged by emerging trends, evolving regulations, and shifting customer preferences, compelling them to adapt at an increasingly rapid pace.

In this landscape, banks are under heightened scrutiny regarding their actions on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues, given the profound impact they can have on society. Regulators and the public are closely evaluating whether banks' initiatives align with regulations and meet rising expectations, particularly as sustainability becomes a central concern. This pressure drives banks to evolve and play a more active role in the sustainable transition. Digitalization offers banks a valuable opportunity to enhance communication about their ESG efforts, empowering clients to improve their own sustainability practices—especially through mobile banking apps.

An essential aspect of this digital evolution is ensuring that banking applications are accessible to all users, particularly those with impairments. Upcoming regulations emphasize the importance of creating digital environments that are inclusive, enabling everyone to participate fully in society. Enhancements in accessibility can dramatically ease daily life for individuals with disabilities.

Moreover, emerging disruptive technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), are reshaping the banking sector by harnessing Big Data to drive automation and enhance operational efficiency. As AI capabilities continue to advance, banks are increasingly integrating these technologies into their mobile banking apps to foster greater personalization and improve customer experience.

Innovation is critical, especially in the face of new market entrants such as Neobanks and FinTech companies, which offer best-in-class, digital-only experiences by focusing on specific segments of the banking value chain. However, while the banking industry navigates these challenges and opportunities, the focus remains on the core offerings of Daily Banking Functionalities and the User Experience of Mobile Banking Applications.

As digitization continues to advance, mobile banking apps have firmly established themselves as the primary channel for customers to engage with their banks. To succeed in this digital-first landscape, banks must offer seamless, fully integrated digital customer journeys across a wide range of products and services, along with streamlined onboarding processes to attract new clients. To stay on top of these innovations in the banking sector, Sia Partners performs an annual global benchmark on banking apps, searching for the most complete, innovative, and user-friendly banking applications in the world. Sia Partners' 2024 Mobile Banking Benchmark assessed the performance of 140 banking applications in 22 countries across the EMEA region, North & South America, Asia and Australia. The banks in scope of the study were evaluated on more than 95+ criteria in 3 pillars: Functionalities (FX), User Experience (UX), and App Store ratings.  In response to recent trends and market developments, Sia Partners recognizes ESG, AI and Accessibility as transformative forces that will shape the future of digital finance. As a result, dedicated assessments have been conducted to consider and cover their impact on the Mobile Banking landscape.

The Mobile Banking Benchmark methodology, based on the 3 pillars, follows an objective and transparent scoring method. A 4-point scale with customized answer possibilities for each criterion guarantees comparability, transparency, and objectivity across banks.

• 55% of the final score comes from functionalities (FX). This scoring stream rates functionalities related to Daily Banking (Accounts, Cards and Transactions), Personal Financial Management (PFM), ESG, AI, Investments, Insurance, Credits, User Support, and Open & Beyond Banking.
• 35% of the final score is based on user experience (UX). We assess criteria related to Convenience & Ergonomics, Accessibility, and Design, Look & Feel.
• 10% of the final score is retrieved from an average of Google Play store and Apple App store ratings, incorporating customer expectations and experiences on the application.

Our worldwide Mobile Banking Benchmark is a yearly exercise, and the criteria are changing year-on-year, incorporating the newest trends, and evolving with customer expectations.

The 2024 results reveal a shake-up at the top, with KBC rising to the number one position, surpassing both Intesa Sanpaolo and Bank of America, who held the top two spots in 2023. French digital bank BoursoBank makes an impressive debut in second place, followed closely by Revolut Metal in third. Revolut has been a consistent top performer in recent years, showcasing its strength in digital innovation. Competition at the top remains intense, with the top ten dominated by European and US banks, alongside Revolut. While several players consistently secure a spot in the top ten year after year, shifts in rankings reflect the ongoing focus on digital banking and the growing competitiveness of mobile banking applications, where even the smallest incremental improvements can make a critical difference in climbing the ranks.

Our analysis reveals a growing divide between Digital Leaders and the rest of the field. While Digital Leaders continue to pull ahead, competition is particularly fierce among Digital Challengers and Followers, where securing a place in the rankings is becoming increasingly difficult. Overall, Digital Leaders have outstanding Daily Banking Functionalities and User Experience. In particular, they distinguish themselves from the competition by their comprehensive end-to-end digital offerings and innovative services, including seamless integration of Daily Banking, AI-powered chatbots, Investments, and Open & Beyond Banking. As top performers consistently raise the bar, Digital Laggards struggle to provide performant basic functionalities and deliver a satisfactory User Experience, creating a stark contrast between the best and worst performers.

The following ranking displays the Global Top-10 Mobile Banking Apps of 2024:

The steps listed below are not necessarily a sequential path to be followed by banks. However, we observed that this kind of sequential path is followed by the majority of banking players.

1. Ensure that the appropriate up-to-date digital (back-end) infrastructure is in place as a foundation building block, and get rid of the legacy IT systems.
2. Implement key daily banking functionalities, increasing daily client interaction & enhancing top/bottom line (revenue generation, saving FTE intervention cost).
3. Provide a smooth, intuitive & interactive omnichannel customer journey all along the way with CTA, (live) assistance, moments of truth, etc. when developing mobile features. 
4. Enable digital end-to-end (sales) journeys, for basic products (e.g. savings account) as well as subscriptions of advanced offerings (e.g. credit, insurance, investment, etc.).
5. Implement innovative (Personal Financial Management, AI-powered chatbots, Beyond Banking...) services, bring added value to users and make the banking app the key app for everyday use.
6. Create brand ambassadors from your clients resulting in high Customer Lifetime Value, favorable NPS scoring, and free mouth-to-mouth advertising...