The digital transformation moving at breakneck speed financial sector. Physical branches are transforming into flagship stores that offer more personalized attention, while routine day-to-day transactions and even hiring move to the digital environment.
For this reason, it is essential for financial institutions to work on the development of their products and services, which are increasingly more personalized, providing a better experience to improve the connection in a sector with an increasingly competitive environment. Smartme Analytics, the observational data company, has analyzed the digital performance of the banking sector in its MPIX Index to identify the best positioned companies on customers’ smartphones.
As the data collected for the last quarter of 2021 shows, the 82.2% of digital consumers in Spain they use finance applications. Also during this period, marked by the consolidation of the merger between CaixaBank and Bankia, the use of financial sector applications by Spanish users increased by 17.8% compared to the previous quarter.
BBVA leads among banking apps
In the latest update of the index, the BBVA application, with a score of 66.49 out of 100, remains the leader in the classification thanks to the high rating received in the engagement variable, which quantifies the relationship between each entity and its customers . BBVA has led the MPIx ranking since mid-2020 without losing pace of growth.
However, after one of the largest business merger operations in our country, CaixaBank has managed to almost completely reduce the distance that separates it from the leader in the sector, with 65.39 points, thanks to an increase of 48.1% in market share in this last quarter, another of the variables that this index values.
In third place we find the Imagin app, Caixabank’s 100% digital bank for young people with a score of 57.21. Finally, with the disappearance of Bankia, Banco Santander (50.29 points) and ING Direct (47.42), they close the Top 5, climbing positions according to the Smartme Analytics MPIx Index.
Consumer Finance applications grow
Analyzing other financial apps in detail, Consumer Finance apps, with a market share of 9.7% within the sector, are positioned as the fastest growing with an increase of 34.7% in their market share. based on total users. The CarrefourPass, El Corte Inglés or Cetelem purchase card applications were the most used in this subsector in the last quarter of the year.
Fintech apps such as Goin, Fintonic or Skrill complete the picture, with a total share of 10.2% and an increase of 10.9% compared to the previous quarter, and payment method apps such as Google Pay, Samsung Pay or CaixaBank Pay, with a 35.7% total share and a growth of 12.3% in the same period. However, the traditional banking and neobanking apps remained stable in the last quarter with growth in use of no more than 5%, although with the highest market share, 82% and 43.8% respectively.
Digital performance in banking, on the rise since 2021
During the last year, the share of the financial sector has been growing steadily. Compared to the first quarter of 2021, these applications have increased their market share by 24.9% throughout the year. In addition, with respect to the last quarter of the previous year, there is a growth of 19.5%.
Between October and December 2021, the use of these applications among users has shot up 17.8% compared to the previous quarter, a figure that contrasts with the growth in the first quarters of the year, where the growth figure has always been less than 6%. A factor that may be boosted not only by the large business movements of recent months, which have attracted new customers, but also because these are months marked by high consumption dates such as Black Friday or Christmas.
