Back in 2013, when mobile banking wasn’t discussed on earnings calls (and if analysts asked about it, they often caught the CEOs off-guard) JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America were neck and neck in number of mobile active users, with Wells Fargo a few million behind.
Those days are gone. As the graph below shows, Chase’s lead has continued to widen quarter over quarter. That trend continued in the quarter just ended, with Chase growing 3.2% on the quarter and 12.7% year-over-year. Bank of America saw 3.1% quarterly growth and 10.8% on the year. BofA’s mobile deposits rose to 21% of total consumer deposits, up 3% year-over-year. CEO Brian Moynihan also discussed the importance of Zelle to his bank, with P2P payments (inclduing Zelle) rising to $4 billion on the quarter, up from $2.4 billion a year ago.
Wells Fargo, still in third place, grew 2.5% in 3Q, and 11.2% on the year.
The mobile growth at Chase comes despite CEO Jamie Dimon’s professed fondness for bank branches and their centrality to banking. “Branches still matter a lot,” said CFO Marianne Lake, who did most of the talking. Chase has some 5,200 branches, down 125 or son the year due to closings and consolidation, according to Lake. Bank of America has historically been more aggressive in closing branches and speaking of the shift to digital. This quarter it has 4,511 banking centers, down 31 since last quarter. Wells, meanwhile, reported 5,927 retail bank branches (no longer called “stores”), down 52 on the quarter and 145 on the year.
Below is Bank Innovation’s mobile banking data going back to 1Q 2013.