Bank of America Continues to Rank No. 1 for Online Banking Experience

The Q4 2023 Online Banker Scorecard trends reveal banks are offering customers new instant payment options and improved online personal financial management (PFM) spending and cash flow reports.

“Today’s consumers have high expectations for quality and expedient digital services but there is a wide spectrum in meeting those needs from banks and credit unions,” said Susan Foulds, managing director of Keynova Group. “Banks that offer comprehensive financial tools and resources with personalized online banking options and instant payments and transfers will secure greater customer satisfaction and loyalty.”

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Key Findings:

Banks Make Improvements to Instant Payments and Transfers
Real-time payments are top of mind as fintechs and some retailers have brought instant payments to the forefront of the consumer experience and spurred overall demand. While the rollout of the FedNow pilot, comprised of 140 depositary institutions, promises to bring a ubiquitous retail banking solution closer to reality, Citibank is the first and only Scorecard bank to offer real-time payments to consumers via RTP, the incumbent bank-consortium network. This enables instant delivery of transfers and payments to recipients with accounts at other banks, currently with no fee.

Although most of the banks (88%) are offering third-party payments through Zelle, maximum payment limits are low compared to RTP and FedNow. However, banks are continuing to raise Zelle limits with 55% allowing daily payments up to $2,500, 33% permitting monthly transactions up to $20,000, and 18% now approving a monthly limit exceeding $20,000. Expedited ACH transfers with next-day delivery between customer-owned accounts at different financial institutions are also offered by 55% of the Scorecard banks. Customers are becoming more comfortable with cross-border electronic payments, yet only 27% of the banks – including Bank of America and Wells Fargo – offer global electronic payments or wire transfers.

Trending Personalization and Account Aggregation Improves Spending Reports
While the number of PFMs in online banking is rising, there is a disparity in the level of personalization and functionality currently offered, ranging from basic cash flow charts to more sophisticated reports with automatic categorization of transactions and spending. Cash flow analysis is offered by two-thirds of banks, but they vary from simple visuals with only a few months’ activity and cash in/out to highly granular charts and graphs. As financial history is important for longitudinal information and monitoring, half of the banks’ PFMs provide 12-24 months of transaction history for spending reports.

The ability to aggregate transactions from other bank and credit card accounts into the spending reports is vital for a comprehensive view of expenditures; 44% of the banks support linking external accounts to import transactions. Automatic categorization of transactions is common for PFMs; however, some customers want to customize category labels. Half of the Scorecard banks allow users to modify or assign categories, and 50% of banks also offer the ability for users to set or adjust rules for categorizing future transactions.

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