How Mobile Financial Applications are Driving Innovation in the Digital Finance Era?
Key Takeaways:
- Consumers are coming to expect secure, personalized, user-friendly finance apps
- New innovations better serve underbanked communities and lower costs
- Integrated ‘super apps’ and AI assistants are leading new developments
- Working with expert partners to remain competitive is vital
Mobile banking has come on leaps and bounds in recent years. It wasn’t so long ago that we at Ciklum were developing simple SMS and WAP-based banking services, but these have rapidly evolved into the mobile banking applications we use everyday on our smartphones.
Today, mobile financial apps are essential tools in driving financial inclusion, supporting basic banking functions in developing and isolated communities, and easing access to advanced products like insurance and microloans. No surprise, then, that the global mobile banking market is expected to be worth $5.7 billion by 2031.
In this blog, we’ll explore the key features driving adoption of mobile financial apps, and the new innovations that will support this trend in the months and years ahead.
What’s Driving Mobile Financial App Adoption
More and more people have moved towards mobile banking, thanks not only to the constantly expanding capabilities of the apps involved, but also the strengthening security measures built into them. Key drivers of adoption include:
Personalization
Consumers are increasingly looking for personalized, tailored products and support, and financial app providers have responded with the help of artificial intelligence and data analytics. These technologies enable spending patterns and financial behavior to be analyzed, so that the right advice and offers can be targeted at the right customers at the right times.
Cryptocurrency/Blockchain Integration
With growing demand from digital-native users to trade cryptocurrencies, more and more blockchain-based features are being built in. There are now a variety of apps available for buying, selling and storing cryptocurrencies, and conducting automated financial transactions through smart contracts.
Authentication and Security
The best mobile financial apps now feature a wide range of security and verification tools, including facial recognition, fingerprint scanning, voice authentication, encrypted data transmission and multi-factor authentication. These help keep users’ finances and data safe, especially in the era of financial deepfakes, without compromising easy usability.
Real-Time Payments and Transfers
Users now expect the ability to instantly split bills, send money to friends and make payments to merchants, thanks to instant payment processing and seamless peer-to-peer transfers. More recently, this level of convenience has expanded into social media networks and messaging platforms.
Benefits of Mobile Financial Applications
At Ciklum, we’ve found that working closely with BFSI clients to develop scalable mobile solutions has been transformative for their businesses - and for the customers they serve:
Increasing Banking Accessibility
Mobile banking apps have massively expanded access to financial services in remote and rural parts of the world, especially those where running a physical bank isn’t practical or viable.
This impact is particularly evident in developing regions like Africa, where traditional banking infrastructure has historically been limited. According to the World Economic Forum, almost half of Africa’s population is now using digital and mobile banking services - a dramatic shift in financial inclusion. Through smartphones, these apps enable essential banking functions like money transfers, bill payments, and savings account management in areas that previously had minimal access to financial services.
Lowering Costs for Users and Providers
Reducing the need for staff or physical infrastructure in providing banking services can reduce costs substantially. Those savings can be passed onto customers in the form of lower fees, better exchange rates, and the ability to spend and withdraw money while overseas without incurring any extra fees in the process.
Delivering Seamless User Experiences
The combination of new technologies and the latest design principles is enabling more intuitive, user-friendly interfaces that strip the complexity away from detailed finance services and transactions. Features such as tailored dashboards and biometric security can easily be used by all users, irrespectively of how confident they are with technology, in turn breaking down the barriers of banking.
Emerging Trends in Mobile Financial Applications
In a competitive sector, innovation around mobile financial apps is continuing at pace. In recent months, we have experienced - and have contributed to - the wider proliferation of:
Embedded Finance
This refers to the integration of financial services into non-financial platforms, such as being able to make payments through social media apps. The growth of developments in this area is leading to some new ways of thinking around how and where customers conduct their financial affairs and transactions.
‘Super Apps’
This new generation of apps can deliver a wide range of services within a single application and ecosystem, spanning areas as diverse as payments, banking and investments to maximize convenience.
AI-Supported Virtual Assistants
AI analyzes customers' financial data to power virtual assistants that offer personalized guidance through natural conversation – from budgeting strategies to debt reduction advice and savings recommendations. For example, Virgin Money’s Redi assistant can now deal with over 70 common queries from credit card customers, and handle requests such as replacement card ordering or adjusting credit limits. As a result, more than a quarter of all customer queries to Virgin Money are now resolved without any staff talking to customers directly.
Sustainable Finance
More consumers want to behave sustainably (and expect the businesses they deal with to do the same). Eco-friendly and ethical investment tools are emerging that allow consumers to invest in sustainable projects, and make financial decisions that simultaneously reduce their carbon footprints. This includes built-in transparency around the emissions impact of making purchases and investments, or encouraging transitions to renewable energy providers.
In Summary: What Lies Ahead in Mobile Financial Applications?
Through 2025 and beyond, these emerging trends will drive even greater innovations and functionality in mobile financial apps. We anticipate:
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Growth in partnerships between traditional banks and FinTechs, driving new innovations across AI-powered services, automated investments and blockchain-based payments |
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5G networks supporting real-time analytics and transactions, seamless video-based banking, and fast fraud detection. This will gradually roll out globally, with over 6.3 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide expected to be 5G by 2030 |
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Market-specific apps that better serve the needs of emerging economies, including local payment integration, cultural tailoring and a range of offline capabilities |
Ciklum intends to remain at the forefront of these innovations, thanks to our advanced expertise in data and artificial intelligence, product engineering skills and customer experience.
We’re already helping businesses like yours take advantage of these new capabilities, and can help you do the same. Get in touch with our team to find out more.
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