When Tracey Weber first came to our office to shoot a video, a year ago, she proudly showed off the new iPad app her team had just finished developing. She was obviously getting things done despite the classic challenges of working in a large, matrixed organization. She brought along Andres Wolberg-Stok, a smart and articulate colleague who has also shown thought leadership in the industry - every mobile banker of the year needs a strong team behind her.
Under Weber's watch, along with being one of the first banks to introduce an iPad app, Citi is among the first to have a Kindle app; it was also the first bank to team up with Google on its mobile wallet, which still has the potential to be a leading mobile payment solution.
Our six other Mobile Banker of the Year honorees have also shown spirit and initiative in the past year.
We chose three for their mobile commerce initiatives. Andrea O'Connor at State Farm Bank has cultivated mobile check deposits at her institution and gathered $11 million worth of mobile deposits in the month of February alone; she's also working on a mobile wallet offering. David Heatherly at BMO made his the first Canadian bank to roll out contactless mobile payments, using MasterCard PayPass. Geolocation and loyalty program tie-ins are next on his agenda. And at USAA, Neff Hudson has added a new vehicle rating system to the company's Auto Circle app for researching and financing cars.
Another three mobile bankers were selected for their marketing efforts. Dan Marks at First Tennessee gets employees to beta-test new mobile apps, which turns them into promoters of the apps to customers. Regions Bank's Stephen Lamar trains employees to provide mobile banking demos to customers. At BBVA, Alejandro Carriles has crafted short and simple instructions on how to use mobile banking for customers as well as mobile enrollment for those who don't want to sign up for online banking first.
These are by no means all of the efforts going on in mobile banking and payments. Last year's honoree, Dominic Venturo at U.S. Bank, has continued interesting work, including trials involving large stores like Home Depot and Ace Hardware and micro-location-based offers that know which aisle the customer is standing in. City Bank, whose iPhone app is our AppLab focus this month, has added the ability to turn international transactions on and off, based on the user's travel plans and security concerns. Simple Finance Technology Corp. (formerly BankSimple) launched its iPhone app in May, calling it a "worry-free alternative to traditional banking." Within a week, 26 people had downloaded the app and were begging to be invited to join.
