• September 11, 2009

ABI Research has assessed 29 bank mobile programs with a focus on user-friendliness. The firm has published a mobile banking "report card" which assesses the banks on the discoverability and accessibility of their mobile banking services.

BB&T, Eastern Bank, Fifth Third Bank, Northeast Bank, USAA and Wells Fargo received "A" grades and were rated "exceptional" while Bank of America and Chase received a "B+" and were rated "very good." Capital One, US Bank and Huntington Bank received a "B" grade and were rated good.

America First, Bancorp South, Citibank, PNC and Wachovia all received a "C" and were rated as average. Below average or "D" grades went to Carolina First, 1st Bank, IBC Bank, Mercantile Bank, Regions, SunTrust and Synovus. The failing grade of "F" went to M&T and Provident Bank.

Citizens Bank, Comerica, HSBC and KeyBank do not offer mobile service and, therefore, were not graded.

Of 29 banks examined, 17 are the nation's largest retail banks. The remaining dozen banks are a sampling of other community and regional banks. The results indicate that mobile banking's reach in the U.S. isn't as good as it could be. If banks want mobile banking to be ubiquitous and available to as many consumers as possible, they'll have to promote text messaging in particular as the method of choice, according to the study.--Tanya Irwin