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Customer Service Associate Johannesburg

FNB delighted by banking app growth

16 Sep 2011

There are nearly 30 000 devices paired to FNB's Banking Application, only two months after its launch and the bank expects the figure to continue to rise. The app covers iOS (Apple); Research In Motion (BlackBerry) and Android (Samsung, HTC Motorola etc) operating systems currently and an announcement relating to Nokia Symbian is expected in the forthcoming weeks.

The app now averages more than 500 downloads per day, which is increasing subsequent to the recent launch on popular keypad Blackberry handset models.

Farren Roper, head of products and markets at FNB Connect said: "The number of downloads since launch has exceeded our expectations. We would like to think that this has been fuelled mostly by positive customer word of mouth. We have more than R160 million worth of transaction volumes already sent through the FNB App, with close to 90 000 financial transactions processed to date. So our customers are not just downloading the app, they are using it."

Apple most popular

The FNB App is most popular on the iOS (Apple) platform with 58 percent of paired users being iPhone users. This is followed by BlackBerry at 25 percent and Android at 16 percent. The top Android users are Samsung at 44 percent followed by HTC at 27 percent. Of BlackBerry users, the most popular handsets to date are the 8520 and 9800 models.

"We believe that the current download and usage statistics are sustainable and expect growth over time, with increased smartphone and tablet penetration, additional device models being covered and more functionality being included in the FNB App," Roper added.

No charge for Blackberry users

Blackberry users do not incur a data charge when using the FNB App, due to an agreement between FNB and BlackBerry manufacturer, Research In Motion, in which the data consumption used by the FNB App is included in the Blackberry Internet subscription. FNB indicates that this will likely also result in increased uptake amongst BlackBerry users in the months to come.

"The results are by no means indicative of handset models, but most likely a factor of having launched initially on touchscreen devices only. When you consider that we are gradually covering more devices, as well as the remaining operating system in the top four, Nokia Symbian, this is really a very solid download rate. With smartphone penetration increasingly on the rise, the FNB App is also well positioned to continue to give value to a growing pool of FNB customers, well into the future," he concluded.