St George bank has released what it claims is the first mobile banking application for Android smartphones in Australia.
The bank, which merged with Westpac two years ago, already provides a mobile banking application for the iPhone and iPad devices through Apple’s App Store and claims to serve 600,000 customers a month using mobile banking.
Now Android smartphone users have access to online banking features with the “purpose-built” mobile banking application.
St.George Bank’s chief information officer, Dhiren Kulkarni, said the app demonstrates St.George’s “commitment to innovative banking solutions”.
“We realise many consumers are choosing Androids or Blackberries and we’re really pleased to be able to provide these customers with a purpose-built mobile banking application,” Kulkarni said.
“The fact that we’re already seeing our customers make more than 250,000 financial transactions and more than a million inquiries a month from their mobile devices, demonstrates the already strong customer uptake and acceptance of our current mobile banking applications.”
Kulkarni says the new apps will “no doubt prove as popular” as the iPhone app.
St George’s Android Mobile Banking application is available now from the Android Marketplace.
“The features of the mobile banking application for Androids are intuitive, easy-to-use and secure,” Kulkarni said.
“Customers can access the most popular Internet banking functions from their mobile phones, wherever they are, whenever they want – it’s secure banking 24 [by] 7.”
The Mobile Banking Android app features account access, balance checking, fund transfers, bill payments and payment scheduling.
The app can also locate the nearest St George ATM or branch using GPS and it can be used to view information about products, services and contact details.
St George also plans to release a mobile banking app for the new Blackberry Torch.
Check out CIO Australia's Mobile category for more on smartphones.