Fast 5

Mobile App Innovation |  Nathan Smith

_Fast 5 Nathan Smith

Fast 5 with Nathan Smith, Architect, Digital Banking, Sandstone Technology 

Mobile banking technology is constantly evolving and demanding world-class customer experiences with simple and seamless UI. We chatted to Nathan and see what else he had to say...

Q1. What exciting innovation have you seen in the banking mobile app space over the past 12-18 months? 

More customers are becoming mobile-first, and innovation is key to this growth.

 

Neobanks have successfully established the norm of a mobile-only experience, no Branches, no Internet Banking. Neobanks have achieved this by allowing customers to onboard just by installing the Neobank App and opening an account almost instantly. Given the risk of cash payments during COVID, there has been wider adoption of Digital Wallets. Now as soon as customers open an account, before even receiving a physical card in the mail, they can instantly add their Card to the Digital Wallet.

 

Mobile Banking is becoming smarter, by enriching transactions, detecting bills and upcoming payments, customers can now get a view of a spendable balance, a deduction of what is available by how much will be spent on bills.

 

Q2. What is the one feature/functionality do you think helps the end customer do the most in banking apps?

Quick View Balance. Given the prevalence of e-commerce and contact-less payments customers can no longer just open their wallet to see how much cash is there to spend, it’s all digital now. Quick View Balance is as easy as looking in your wallet, simply by opening the Banking App. Some Banking Apps are now even offering Quick View Balance as an iOS/Android Widget, so customers don't even need to open an App.

 

Q3. What Mobile App feature could you not imagine living without today and why?

It would be the Digital Wallet for sure! Whenever I'm about to pay for something, I never have to pull a card from my wallet, I simply double-tap the power button on my Apple Watch or iPhone and pay. It also has the extra security benefit that only works if I'm the one holding the phone or wearing the watch.

Q4. What do you see as a game-changer for the future of mobile banking? 

Financial Wellbeing features, driven by the growing adoption of Open Banking across the industry. Once customers can connect accounts from other banks into their Mobile Banking App, not only would that have a complete view of their finances, the App will become smarter, offering actionable insights to improve financial wellbeing.

 

Q5. Which famous person would you have dinner with?  

John Carmack, CTO of Oculus and co-founder of id Software who led the development of Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein 3D. Given John's research into AR/VR, I would want to get his insights into the future of computing / technology and about how we would be interacting with it. I would also love to gain an understanding of and discuss the complexities of building a VR system.



Nathan Smith

Nathan Smith is passionate about building software and is 9 years into his journey working with talented engineers building the best Mobile Banking experience. Nathan also recently placed 2nd in the mobile competition as part of the Secure Code Warrior's Devlympics skills tournament and was the only Australian to place in the top three across all competition elements.

 

 

Fast 5 with Nathan Smith

Posted by Sandstone Technology on Nov 6, 2021 5:45:29 AM
Sandstone Technology