UOB has, it seems, thus far failed to deliver a smartphone mobile app to its clients, while the other major Singaporean banks have been rather quick to provide such services to its more digitally inclined clientele, for whom smartphones have become a way of life and mobile apps have moved beyond mere convenience to systems upon which many clients rely.
Although it remains easy enough to sign on to most websites using the browser in every available smartphone, there are a number of advantages mobile apps have over ordinary browser-based access. Clients do not have to type in the URL, instead accessing the service with a single button; they do not have to wait for the full version of the web page to load, but rather a very basic amount of data that allows for near instantaneous access (even more so than mobile versions of web pages, because the graphics will be contained within the app, or in other words, on the phone). The only data that needs to be transferred back and forth between the user and bank would be miniscule.
All of these are, admittedly, minor conveniences; but over the course of a day, a busy businessman or anyone with family obligations will be hard pressed to put up with inconvenience when so many easier methods are readily available through other means. Furthermore, it represents a certain amount of bandwidth cost reduction if banks are able to move quite a percentage of their operations over to mobile banking, which, if millions of customers are taking advantage of it, will allow them to slim down on costs, if only marginally. However, it’s not something so small that it warrants being ignored. Furthermore, the user experience is simply superior when the speed is increased, web pages designed to accommodate a specific phone’s size and resolution, and so on. The site can easily be optimized for a specific device, rather than a phone having to deal with the size of the “normal” web page, and the user having to zoom in and out continuously.
There are also security benefits to be reaped by programming for a smartphone platform, though specifically this is more true of the Apple iOS devices than current Android offerings; iOS devices such as iPods, iPhones and iPads currently require a human approval step in the design procedure, which drastically cuts down on the possibility of malicious software which will, inevitably, proliferate on open platforms such as Android. Though there is no way to guarantee perfect security, such a security requirement will come to be seen as an extraordinary advantage once millions of phones are exposed to security flaws, in which case the iOS platform will appear more secure. Compared to PCs, especially ones users might access publicly at an internet cafe or a library, app-vetted smartphones have vastly greater security, which will again represent a rather significant cost reduction for major banks with enormous numbers of customers.
The other banks in Singapore have long since developed their own programs for such platforms, to varying degrees of availability; DBS, POSB and OCBC have pursued this route with multiple devices, and are likely to benefit, at least in some small degree, by following such a strategy. Though it is unlikely anyone will switch over from one bank to another simply because of mobile app availability, it is altogether likely that it will enhance the overall consumer experience to offer such conveniences, and such an advantage cannot be overstated.
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Customers can read more about UOB iBanking, including security features, or check out such offers from other banks such as those of POSB iBanking.
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