Bank of America reaches 1m active m-banking customers

Bank of America says it has surpassed 1m unique active m-banking customers. BofA's m-banking application allows customers to check balances, pay bills, transfer funds, view posted and pending transactions and even locate banking centres and ATMs, accompanied by maps and directions. The service was introduced nationwide in Q2 2007 as part of BofA's suite of online banking services. Nearly 25m consumers bank online with Bank of America.

"Mobile banking provides consumers with the convenience of managing their finances on-the-go, right from their handheld device. We see over 100,000 users daily on peak high usage days," says Lance Drummond, e-commerce and ATM executive, Bank of America. "Consumers have a lot of activities to fit into their every day, but still expect to be connected and in control of their finances 24/7. More than 1m consumers have found the right solution with Bank of America Mobile Banking."

Nationwide, the innovative service is being widely adopted across the BofA footprint. Metro-locales that skew toward high mobile phone usage rank amongst the fastest adopters of the service:
1. Los Angeles, CA
2. Atlanta, GA
3. Washington DC
4. Dallas, TX
5. New York, NY
6. Houston, TX
7. Phoenix, AZ
8. Boston, MA
9. Miami, FL
10. Anaheim, CA

Almost all customers use B BofA's service to view account balances, eight in ten review transactions, while four in ten use their handhelds to transfer funds or pay bills. Frequency of use by active users continues to increase monthly, with over 4m account sessions in May 2008 alone.

Notably, two-thirds of BofA's m-bankers are under 35 years old and four out of five are under 45 years old, as Gen Y and X consumers who have embraced mobile web technology are similarly driving m-banking usage.

The web-based service is accessible via most phones that have mobile internet access and requires no downloading of software. To access customers simply go to www.bofa.mobi on their phones web browser and enter their online banking ID and passcode to access their accounts. The transactions are protected by SiteKey security service, as well as the ‘Zero Liability Online Banking Guarantee'. To help protect customer information, the bank has developed an end-to-end security feature that encrypts information when sent between the mobile phone and the bank.