JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo & Co. continue to keep pace in growth of active mobile users.
Chase reported 17.2 active mobile users today, up 4.9% over last quarter and 22.9% over last year. Similarly, Wells reported yesterday that its active mobile users had grown to 13.1 million, a gain of 4.8% on the quarter and 22.4% on the year.
How is it that two banks are following such similar trajectories? It seems to indicate that users are adopting mobile at their own pace, regardless of what the banks do or how banks market the applications. Mobile banking apps from the top banks offer similar product sets and experience. As one gets batter, the others do as well.
It’s a similar story to last quarter, when both banks saw very similar QOQ numbers. YOY numbers last quarter were about 24% for both banks, slightly better than this quarter. Mobile adoption is rising steadily, in other words, but does not appear to be accelerating.
JPM last refreshed its app on May 28 and head of mobile Gavin Michael said at the time that the bank planned to accelerate its product development cycle, which would mean seasonal updates at a minimum. Wells last updated its app on June 25.
Below, the parallel paths of the two banks over the last five quarters is clear to see.
ACTIVE MOBILE USERS