JPMorgan Chase’s Finn app is now available to users on all of Apple's phone and tablet operating systems nationally, the bank announced Thursday.
The Finn team plans to roll out the digital-only banking brand to Android users by the end of the year.
“We wanted to get some early views as to whether the product was resonating with customers and if it was something they would be willing to make their primary bank,” said Melissa Feldsher, head of Finn. “We had enough data from talking to customers to say this product works as an end-to-end mobile bank."
Creating an app in-house has allowed Chase to install the functionality it wants and will allow it to be nimble in adding new features to the app as it signs up more users, said Matt Gromada, Chase's managing director of digital product strategy.
Last week at a fintech conference, Gromada
“What Chase is responding to is the complexity that has really come to mobile banking apps,” said Emmett Higdon, director of mobile for Javelin Strategy & Research.
“When you look at your average drop-down menu, there are 10 or 12 different tabs. We’ve managed to make mobile banking a very detailed channel, but in the process we’ve also made the day-to-day functionality more complicated. In some ways, it’s good to strip all that down to the minimum.”
For digital-first users, the ability to rate transactions as a “want” or “need” made the service feel familiar in a social media age, Higdon noted. While transaction records intimidate customers, he predicts that the bank will continue to find ways to gamify the application.
“Finn is almost like Roku for banking,” he said, referencing the popular TV streaming service. “It’s a very colorful interface, with big squares and buttons for what you need all upfront. If you need something more than that? Then you can see a full channel listing with the same login at Chase’s website or main app.”
As the app becomes more widely available, the Finn team will have 24/7 customers support available on email or by phone. “What we learned in St. Louis" is to give them "the help they need to feel secure,” Feldsher said.
