In the landmark PYMNTS Intelligence study “How the World Does Digital,” thousands of consumers across 11 countries crystallized the continued shift to banking online, especially through mobile channels.
Among the consumer that PYMNTS surveyed, 46.8% surveyed said they’d engaged with mobile banking apps at least weekly, equating to 11 “activity days” per month, more than the 6.7 days spent online shopping. More than 16% of consumers said they checked mobile banking apps daily.
All told, only 20% of consumers indicated that they did not use mobile or online banking offerings at least once a month. In the United States, across more than 12,500 individuals queried, just under half used mobile banking at least weekly, per PYMNTS Intelligence data.
We are only about two weeks into earnings season, but commentary and details tied to banks’ March quarter reports have highlighted the continued digital shift within financial services, where speed and convenience continue to draw customers toward setting up accounts and managing their money on their phones, while engaging with chat features and other self-service points of interactions. The rockiness of the macro-economic trends right now is not deterring continued investment in those experiences.
For example, JPMorgan’s earnings materials show that at the end of the latest quarter, the largest bank (by asset size) counted 59 active mobile customers up 8% year over year. CEO Jamie Dimon noted on the call with analysts that “the investment that we do in banks, branches, technology, AI is going to continue regardless of the environment.”
Wells Fargo’s supplementals indicate that mobile-active customers at the end of the quarter were 31.8 million, up from 30.5 million last year.
CEO Charlie Scharf said on the call: “We’ve continued to invest in refurbishing our branches, while at the same time making enhancements to our account opening experience in both our digital and branch channels. In the first quarter, active mobile customers grew 4% from a year ago and digital account openings continued to grow.”
Retail bank branches declined at the end of the most recent period to 4,155, from 4,247 a year ago.
Bank of America’s CEO Brian Moynihan told investors: “Our digital engagement and sales continue to expand across all our businesses. We saw more than 14 billion log-ins in 2024.”
Erica, the bank’s virtual financial assistant, has surpassed 2.7 billion interactions since its inception. Transactions sent through Zelle at Bank of America are, the CEO said, “not only 3x the number of checks written by our Bank of America customers, but also 1.3x the number of checks written plus the number of cash transactions, taking money out of the ATM. It’s also worth noting that digitally-enabled sales in our Consumer business across the board reached 65% of total sales.”
CFO Alistair Borthwick said on the call that “our new accounts continue to be predominantly opened digitally.” Seventy-eight percent of households were digitally active, up from 76% a year ago.
Earnings material from the bank show that active digital users in the latest quarter were 49 million, up from 47 million last year. There were 3.9 billion active sessions logged in over digital and mobile channels in the first quarter, compared to 3.4 billion in the first quarter of 2024. Sixty-eight percent of check deposits were done digitally, up from 64% as measured in 2022.
As for further evidence of self-service activity, Erica interactions on CashPro Chat were 33.5 million, higher than the 32.5 million last year in the first quarter. Proactive Alerts and Insights were 23.4 million in the first quarter of 2025 compared to 21.2 million in the commensurate period a year ago.
And as PYMNTS reported in coverage of Capital One’s earnings, CEO Richard Fairbank said on the earnings call that with the pending acquisition of Discover, “we’re trying to build a bank with leaner economics that comes from not having branches all over the place, and also to be very, very modern in its technology and its digital experiences. In terms of the customer base that we attract to self-select a more digitally first kind of experience.”
