Banks, brokerages creating mobile finance apps at a steady clip

Ah, the latest and greatest in mobile technology to grace the banking and brokerage world. That's the subject of a spiffy, if brief, new report from research and consulting firm Corporate Insight Inc. I will not steal all the firm's thunder by giving away all three of their “takeaways” but one: “Mobile technology and design standards from outside of the industry have already made an impact on financial services firms' mobile development, and bear watching for the future” seems particularly apt. Its contents should interest advisers because they can see the cutting edge of mobile finance apps that banks have rolled out to consumers — all aggregated in one place. Operations personnel and technologists at custodians, independent broker-dealers and wirehouses should too, because advisers might soon be asking, “If the banks can do this, why can't we?” The firm has been tracking developments in mobile at financial services companies for several years now. Entitled “Mobile Finance, 2013 Trends and Innovations,” the report's author is senior analyst Daniel Wiegand. Far from just dry descriptions of the offerings — there is plenty of text, don't get me wrong — one will find plenty of screen shots actually showing key pieces of the applications. Most interesting of all (and I say this from the viewpoint of a technologist and one who saw some of the R&D from Pershing at their latest conference) are applications that integrate audio, video and voice commands. The report details everything from online check deposits (now available from 83% of the firms Corporate Insight tracks), to E*Trade's Nuance-powered voice recognition and Vanguard's portfolio analysis feature. I was happy to see some of the apps I've taken a look at covered (if briefly) as well, including those from JP Morgan Asset Management, Alliance Bernstein and Franklin Templeton among others. For more information visit the Corporate Insight blog for a short post and embedded slideshow of the report or Mobile Finance, 2013 Trends and Innovations PDF version of the report itself online.