Financial institutions continue to invest in their mobile banking platforms as consumer banking activity shifts to digital channels. M&T Bank, Fifth Third Bank and Pentagon Federal Credit Union are among those lenders rolling out new features, educational elements and improved functionality spurred by spiking levels of digital banking. In this ongoing series, Bank Innovation spoke with some of the biggest financial institutions 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 COVID-19 pandemic.

M&T Bank

Buffalo, N.Y.-based M&T Bank has seen a 22% increase in 30-day active mobile customers since March, according to Mary Kate Loftus, director of digital banking. The $120 billion dollar bank also saw a 7% increase in the number of customers who enrolled onto the mobile platform, and monthly mobile logins have increased 10% in the same timeframe.

Transactions activity is also ramping up on the mobile app, Loftus added. Nearly 25% of checks deposited by retail and business banking customers in June were via the mobile app, and mobile check deposits have jumped 31% compared with pre-COVID levels. M&T customers have also increased Zelle usage — M&T’s mobile app handles more than 88% of Zelle transactions at the bank — with transaction volume up 159% and dollar volume soaring 341% compared with yearend 2019.

Throughout the pandemic, M&T extended eligibility to treasury checks for retail and business customers using mobile to deposit checks, and deployed a risk-based approach to expand mobile check deposit limits, Loftus said. The bank also rolled out a capability to digitally schedule both in-person and over the phone meetings with bankers and revamped its digital education materials and communications.

Fifth Third Bank

The $203 billion dollar Fifth Third has seen a change in client behavior and an increased usage of digital tools, whether it’s mobile banking, remote check deposit or balance transfers using Zelle, according to Howard Hammond, head of retail for the bank, and President and CEO of Fifth Third Securities and Institutional Services.

According to Hammond, 75% of transactions are now digital, ATM and IVR transfer transactions, a 10% increase from last year. “The key thing we’re seeing is the service pieces that people 10 years ago would’ve came in for, they are comfortable doing via mobile,” he said, adding that he walked his 81-year-old father through a Zelle transfer over the phone in two minutes. “Quite honestly, before that I would have had to mail him a check,” he said. “You’re seeing it across generations, that’s what’s impressing me, that’s why I think it’s here to stay.”

Fifth Third is also expanding a few digital products, specifically integrating personal finance and savings tools such as Momentum and Dobot “even deeper” onto the bank’s online platform to make it easier for clients to use, Hammond noted.

PenFed CU

Pentagon Federal Credit Union “has always been more of a self-service business model,” according to Chief Information Officer Joseph Thomas.

Typically only 5% of transactions are handled in the branch, 15% via the call center and 80% through online and mobile banking channels. “That being said, we did see a big, big spike in mobile, especially when the stimulus checks came out. So we not only saw that people shifted from branch to mobile, but then we saw people were checking their mobile app three times a day,” Thomas said.

During the pandemic, PenFed saw in-branch transactions drop to about 1% of total transactions, with the difference funneled through digital channels and the call center, prompting the Tysons, VA-based credit union to increase its digital volume capacity by about 10%. PenFed is also planning to launch a member-facing chatbot to its mobile app by yearend or early 2021, Thomas added.

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. Click here for details on Truist Bank’s, U.S. Bank’s and Wells Fargo’s mobile banking strategy. 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.