CaixaBank leads global mobile banking functionality benchmark report

• The bank earned the highest overall score in the comparison of retail mobile banking services offered by banks in 13 countries, conducted by one of the world's most prestigious research and advisory firms.
• According to CaixaBank statistics, the number of mobile banking customers was up to 2.7 million per month in the first half of 2015.
• CaixaBank reports that mobile banking is the second most frequently used channel for transactions, second only to the Línea Abierta website, with the number of operations expected to reach 2 billion by the end of 2015.

CaixaBank received the highest overall score in the Forrester Research, Inc. report: "2015 Global Mobile Banking Functionality Benchmark" which evaluated the mobile banking applications offered by 41 large retail banks.

This is the first time that the bank, overseen by Chairman Isidro Fainé and CEO Gonzalo Gortázar, has received the top score in the global Forrester mobile banking functionality benchmark. We consider it to be the leading international evaluation of mobile banking offerings.

In the 2015 report CaixaBank received a score of 86 out of 100 for excelling at providing both basic and next-generation features. According to the report, "CaixaBank earned the highest score in three of the seven categories in our benchmark: range of touchpoints, account and money management, and service features". The report also stated that "CaixaBank is one of the very few banks to provide mobile banking users with predictive tools such as likely future spending based on their spending history and past behaviour rather than payments they have manually set up."

Forrester Research used its mobile banking functionality benchmark methodology to review the applications offered by 41 large retail banks in 13 countries: Germany, Australia, Canada, USA, Spain, France, The Netherlands, India, Italy, Poland, United Kingdom, Singapore and Turkey.

Growth in clients, transactions, fund movements and product uptake

CaixaBank currently serves 2.7 million customers who are regular mobile banking users. 55% of Línea Abierta users also operate via the mobile banking channel.

In June 2015 the number of monthly transactions stood at 167.6 million, representing growth of 31.7% against the same period of the previous year and 140% against the first half 2014. A total of 890 million transactions were completed in the half, while the number of mobile transactions in 2015 is expected to exceed 2 billion.

Mobile banking is now established as the second most frequently used channel by customers for transactions, second only to the Línea Abierta website. Overall, CaixaBank processes 3,881 mobile transactions every minute.

36.4% of these transactions involve fund transfers. This number has grown 37% over the last year. Likewise, the direct uptake of financial products via mobile devices grew 62% up to June.

On average, each month CaixaBank customers log onto the platform 12 times and complete 70 mobile banking transactions. The most frequently used tools are account and card enquiries, money transfers and stock trading. The products most often contracted via mobile devices are deposits, loans, cards and investment funds.

Of those using Línea Abierta via mobile devices, 65.3% use Android smartphones and 24% iPhones. Tablets are still far less frequently used for mobile banking than mobiles, with iPads accounting for just 4.2% of traffic and Android tablets also 4.2%.

Mobile services offering

CaixaBank's mobile services include financial applications, mobile websites and instant notifications, which customers can configure according to their needs based on 55 possibilities, ranging from basic alerts, such as when their salary or pension is paid into an account, to more advanced options for monitoring markets or investing in stocks and shares.

Looking at applications, CaixaBank offers over 60 different apps, providing services aimed at customers and non-customers alike, with the applications available for download and use free of charge. Non-customers can even use some transaction services with cards issued by other banks, such as for bill payments.

All of the applications are available via the CaixaMóvil Store, the first mobile app store ever to be run by a bank.

Over the last year the mobile banking services available have been extended beyond mobiles and tablets and into new environments. CaixaBank now offers applications for wearable devices, including the new Apple Watch. Likewise, at Mobile World Congress 2015 CaixaBank unveiled the world's first banking application for intelligent cars, via a service designed for Ford vehicles equipped with the Ford SYNC with AppLink platform.

CaixaBank, a leader in digital banking

The Global Banking Innovation Awards, run by the Bank Administration Institute (BAI) and Finacle, has named CaixaBank the world's most innovative bank on two occasions (2011 and 2013), as well as giving it the "Innovative Spirit in Banking" award in November 2014.

These recognitions follow other international innovation awards earned by CaixaBank, such as those from the magazines Euromoney and The Banker, and the world retail bank association, Efma.