- Key insight: U.S. Bank was ranked as the top mobile banking provider three years running by two different industry scorecards.
- What's at stake: Banks can gain a competitive advantage among retail consumers with better mobile experiences as more people interact with their banks through apps and mobile web browsers.
- Expert quote: "U.S. Bank's continued success stems from a stream of regular nips and tucks to its customer experience that builds deeper engagement with its customers without moving their cheese." —Javelin Mobile Banking Scorecard
U.S. Bank has maintained its top place at the top of industry rankings for mobile banking for the third year in a row.
The super-regional bank ranked first in mobile banking on two industry scorecards: one produced by
U.S. Bank topped both rankings in
"We're honored to be recognized by both Keynova and Javelin," Ankit Bhatt, consumer chief digital officer at U.S. Bank, told American Banker. "These rankings reflect our continued focus on delivering digital experiences that are intuitive, personalized and secure for our clients."
The Keynova Mobile Banker Scorecard, started in 2011, has ranked U.S. Bank as the top overall bank in eleven consecutive Mobile Banker Scorecards since 2021. (Keynova issues the Mobile Banker Scorecard twice per year.)
U.S. Bank was also ranked by Javelin as best in class for mobile banking for the third year in a row in the firm's annual 2026 Mobile Banking Report, which the firm has been publishing for 20 years.
"U.S. Bank's continued success stems from a stream of regular nips and tucks to its customer experience that builds deeper engagement with its customers without moving their cheese," the Javelin report said.
The Keynova report stated that customer expectations for AI-powered interactions are rising as people experience AI agents outside of banking. Thirty-five percent of the 17 banks included in Keynova's rankings provide an advanced virtual assistant via text exchanges, and two of them – Bank of America's Erica and U.S. Bank's Smart Assistant – include voice-powered interactions.
Lincoln Parks, founder of community bank marketing agency WebMobileFusion, told American Banker that he was unsurprised that only two banks out of the seventeen surveyed in Keynova Group's report had AI voice assistants in their mobile apps.
"Bank of America and U.S. Bank have been building this for years with budgets most of the industry will never see," he said. "Customers aren't comparing their banking app to the bank across the street anymore. They're comparing it to talking to their phone, their car, ChatGPT. That's the bar now, and banking is behind it."
Derek Corcoran, vice president of fintech strategy at Accutive with prior experience in the banking industry, told American Banker that as banking apps become more powerful and complex, banks are looking for ways to further the customer experience through artificial intelligence.
"We use AI chat to navigate the expanse of the internet everyday," he said. "But I don't believe there's as much demand for voice interactions in banking due to the sensitive nature of the information, such as account balances."
As security and fraud continue to be top concerns for banks, some are starting to advance beyond login security questions and one-time passcodes and are more consistently requiring extra authentication for higher-risk transactions and actions, according to both the Javelin and Keynova reports.
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The Keynova Mobile Banker Scorecard reported that passkey authentication – a multi-factor login step that uses a device's native sign-in method, such as a face ID or PIN – is offered by 30% of the 17 scorecard banks for web browser logins on mobile devices, while 18% offer passkey options for mobile app logins.
"With fraud where it is right now? That's low," Parks said. "For community banks, it's not really their call. It's sitting on their digital banking provider's roadmap. If I were in a community bank boardroom this week, I'd be asking our vendor one question: when are we getting passkeys, and what's stopping us?"
U.S. Bank's recent mobile improvements have included enhanced monitoring, authentication and fraud-prevention tools, according to Bhatt. "We are also committed to providing mobile experiences that are accessible and inclusive, ensuring clients can engage with us in the ways that work best for them," he said. Passkeys are
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Approximately half of Keynova's scorecard banks now offer viewing adjustments including text size, dark/light mode and landscape display options as accessibility features for mobile devices.
Corcoran said that he was pleased to see accessibility become more prevalent in banking apps, as approximately
Despite the addition of these features, however, less than half provide links to accessibility policies or settings in their online and mobile login screens, according to the Keynova report. Parks noted that the accessibility element is an easy fix for community banks looking to boost their mobile banking interfaces.
"We're talking about links on a login screen," he said. "It doesn't take an AI strategy or a seven-figure budget. It just takes someone to decide if it matters, and it does matter. Our customers are getting older; more of them are doing everything on a phone, and trust is really the whole business for a bank. If the big banks can't get that consistent, that's an opening for a community bank to just do it right."
Mobile banking as a whole has become increasingly important for banks of all sizes, according to industry experts, and even small adjustments can improve a mobile banking experience for customers.
"The flashy stuff gets the headlines, but most banks are still leaving the basics on the table," Parks said. "Community banks can't outspend the top seventeen. They can out-care them, and much of that shows up in the unglamorous details."
