Banks target younger customers

A growing number of Connecticut banks are adopting mobile banking applications as they compete for younger depositors and customers - especially small business owners - who demand more ease of service on their hand-held devices, reports Hartford Business.

Citizens Bank just introduced one of the first mobile banking applications in the Northeast targeted specifically at small business owners. It allows users to manage their cash and payments, approve pending transactions, view account history and transaction details, and receive alerts and bank mail.

An iPhone application, called accessMOBILE, is available free to Citizens' commercial and business banking customers and will be made available in the future for BlackBerrys and Droids.

While the earliest use of the iPad at banks has been by remote staff, BBVA Compass is aggressively marketing the device as a delivery channel for financial services having just released a free application to join similar apps it released for Android, BlackBerry and iPhone, says BTN News.

Since it's a native iPad app, and not an online banking app ported to the mobile device, the bank is touting the iPad's usability, claiming customers can leverage the larger screens to view transactions and graphical displays of financial information - as well as see multi-colour renderings of bank statements, receipts, cheque and transaction history by using bare fingers to manipulate the screen.

BBVA Compass is one of the first banks to offer an iPad banking app for consumers. Other adopters include Chase, which introduced its iPad app several months ago following the bank's sponsorship of the New York Times iPad app.

China Bank has released its own brand of speed banking, China Bank Online for Mobile, a mobile-optimised version of its Internet banking service, says MB.com.

China Bank's mobile portal is accessible via all Internet-enabled cellular phones and mobile devices such as iPad and iPod Touch.

Utilising WiFi and 3G technology, China Bank Online for Mobile was developed to make it fast, easy, and convenient for China Bank customers to do the three most frequently used banking transactions balance inquiry, fund transfer, and bills payment via mobile phones and devices, anytime, anywhere.