The torrent of consumers shifting to digital banking channels has driven Truist Bank, US Bank and Wells Fargo to invest in their mobile and online banking capabilities, with new features, educational tools and improved functionality to augment the banks’ offerings. In this ongoing series, Bank Innovation spoke with some of the biggest banks across the country to learn how mobile banking has changed in the past five months and what’s to come for the digital banking space in the wake of the pandemic.

Truist Bank

Charlotte, N.C.-based Truist Bank has experienced a surge in mobile banking activity and new mobile banking users since the start of the pandemic, according to Michael Shade, Truist’s director of digital banking.

In April, the $460 billion dollar bank experienced a 10% year-over-year lift in April in active mobile users, and mobile app login volume has spiked 51% in the same time frame.

With the surge in mobile banking activity, Truist made some adjustments to its digital channels, including increasing mobile deposit limits, Shade said. Looking forward, the bank is currently working on implementing a chatbot for the mobile app, he said without providing timeline details.

The bank also invested in educational online simulators and demos for those not familiar with digital banking services, he said. Based on the results of what the bank is seeing from a growth and adoption perspective, it will continue to roll out these educational features, Shade added.

“With a lot of things with this pandemic, once you understand and are educated about what you can do on a mobile device, that will stick and we think, hopefully, it will be a channel clients will use in the future as well,” Shade said.

U.S. Bank

U.S. Bank, with $495 billion of assets, has seen a steady increase in mobile active users, climbing to 55% of total active customers on mobile compared with 50% in 2019 and 44% in 2018, according to the bank’s second-quarter earnings report. In fact, digital channels now outpace branch, ATM and phone transactions 76% to 24%.

The Minneapolis-based bank has also launched a pandemic-specific help page that offers best practices for spotting scammers and fake products, government assistance programs for retail and commercial banking clients and tips regarding online and mobile banking, according to a company spokesperson.

Wells Fargo

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo has experienced a 21% YoY increase in logins to the digital platform, notching 1.86 billion logins in the second quarter, according to Ben Soccorsy, the bank’s head of digital payments. Meanwhile, the number of dollars deposited via mobile is up 108% YoY and the volume of digital wires has increased nearly 50%, he said.

Beyond ensuring that customers can move money digitally, the key for Wells Fargo has been raising awareness among consumers, Soccorsy said. “The main thing that we have been trying to do is just raise awareness to customers that there are ways for them to continue to meet their needs through this difficult time by leveraging digital as opposed to the ways that they have done historically,” he said. “The practical reality is it’s been an awareness effort.”

Click here to read how Bank of America, First National Bank and TD are advancing mobile banking capabilities, and click here to read about HSBC, BBVA USA and Citibank’s efforts. Visit Bankinnovation.net to catch up on this ongoing series exploring how mobile banking has changed amid the pandemic and where it will go from here.