Wells Fargo‘s mobile user count has grown 27% since last year — giddyup!
The bank reported its 4Q 2013 earnings last week, but did not include information about online and mobile users in its earnings call or presentation. This may be because this quarter’s numbers, while stellar, do not match its growth numbers from earlier in the year.
Bank Innovation obtained the following 4Q numbers for Wells digital banking:
- Active mobile users are at 11.9 million, up 27% from 8.7 million last year
- Active online users number 22.9 million, up 7% from 21.3 million last year
Other big banks did nearly as well in mobile in 2013. Bank of America, with 14.4 million users, saw about 20% growth over last year. JPMorgan Chase, with about 15.6 million mobile users, saw growth numbers similar to Wells Fargo, increasing its user base 26% in 2013.
It’s worth noting that both Wells and Chase saw 32% YOY growth in 1Q2013, so growth in mobile users has actually slowed for both banks.
All this digital banking activity does not mean Wells Fargo is contracting its branch network. The bank wrote:
With regards to our branch network, our retail stores in 4Q13 numbered 6,175 with ATMs of 12,647. For 3Q13, it was 6,172 stores and ATMs of 12,452.
In other words, branches are flat and the number of ATMs is up 1.5% over last quarter. In March 2013, the bank reported “about 6,000” branches, or stores, as the bank refers to them. This is in contrast to Bank of America, which reported its branch network could contract from the current 5,151 to below 5,000 this year.
Wells Fargo is experimenting with microbranches, so square footage and costs in the brick and mortar channel should be expected to decrease over 2014.
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