Mobile banking

Supporting Apple Pay cuts into banks' profits. But it's worth it to stay relevant in today's fast-moving mobile payments business.

For all their talk, banks are still sorely lacking when it comes to creating a great user experience in their digital channels, as this unhappy customer can attest.

The ubiquitous coffee chain is making new inroads with its mobile payments app, and its success underscores how nonbanks can outdo banks at their own game and should be watched closely by banking industry participants.

Customers are dodging deposit fees by hanging onto their extra cash and using apps to more frequently check their balances, denying banks crucial noninterest income.

As branch transactions continue to decline, banks are increasingly requiring expertise in an area they paid less attention to in the past: digital design. BBVA and Capital One's recent purchases of user-experience and design firms underscore the increasingly important trend.

The automated-teller-machine maker announced new software that it estimates can save up to 40% annually on ATM costs by reducing the agony of updating each box individually. The product targets the many banks that still need to upgrade their ATM fleets to Windows 7.

BBVA has acquired San Francisco user-experience firm Spring Studio, in a bid to improve the look and feel of its digital banking services.

The world needs a financial system that moves money with real-time transparency while upholding the highest level of security and privacy. Digital currency and mobile money services can help get us there.

When Apple releases its smartwatch next week, there will be apps available from at least five banks — and four of them are community banks. Bankers see the apps as a way to get in early on a new platform, make banking more convenient and drive digital engagement.

Mobile wallet developers can find a suitable business partner in prepaid-card providers, who have already been down the path that mobile has just started.

While many banks prefer to be fast followers, RBC has a patent pending on mobile wallet technology. The goal is to secure a prominent place in customers' mobile wallets before it gets harder to do so.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including thoughts on regulatory complexity, Jamie Dimon's defense of the megabank model, and how vulnerable banks really are to tech startups.

BankMobile, a division of Customers Bank in Phoenixville, Pa., announced that it will be one of the first banks to adapt its mobile application specifically for the soon-to-launch Apple Watch.

Idea Bank in Poland aims to win over new small-business customers with an Uber-like service that orders cars equipped with ATMs and cash deposit machines to drive to them.

Banks are increasingly focusing on smartphones and tablets as the primary platforms with which to engage customers. But do they really understand how Americans use mobile devices?

Merchants are making a new argument in their years-long battle with banks over swipe fees, saying Apple Pay has locked them out of additional routing options mandated by Dodd-Frank.

FIS has designated a permanent area in its San Francisco office to test and showcase mobile banking and payment apps, highlighting the pressure on traditional vendors to stay current on emerging technologies and recruit young tech talent.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including thoughts on Wall Street's dwindling number of high-powered women and the merits and drawbacks of the CFPB's consumer complaint database.

A number of companies across the U.S. are harnessing technology to solve Americans' cash flow challenges. But there is much more to be done to bring these solutions to the millions of Americans who need them.

Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Wallet are among the mobile payment services vying for dominance. Here's what every banker needs to know to get a game plan in place.