PROVIDENCE – Online and mobile banking continues to grow in popularity at Bank of America Corp., with 85% of deposit transitions made through digital channels, the company reported on Aug. 5.
The growth of digital banking includes nearly 48 million checks that were deposited digitally during the second quarter of 2021 alone, the company stated in a release. On average, more than 70% of the company’s clients use digital channels for some or all of their banking services, with higher numbers among wealth management clients through Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank (80%) and global banking clients (75%).
Business clients are also increasingly turning to online and mobile options for services, including digital payments, cash management and access to credit scores.
Digital channels now comprise a quarter of small-business sales, compared with 19% the prior year. The bank’s Cash Flow Monitor cash management service for business clients also saw a 34% increase in users year over year. A newly added feature to access digital credit scores drew 77,000 small-business clients since it was released in March.
Zelle, the payment transfer app, also saw a 123% increase in transaction volume among small-business clients compared with the previous year.
Other key findings included:
- More than 4.4 million clients are using the company’s digital financial planning tool Life Plan, with users’ assets increasing 20% since the offering started in October 2020.
- Erica, the bank’s artificial intelligence-driven virtual assistant, completed 200 million interactions in the first half of 2021 – more than twice the amount in the 18 months after it started.
- Digital channels were used to schedule 871,000 appointments with financial specialists in the second quarter, a 31% year over year increase.
- A record 77% of checks among wealth management clients were deposited digitally in the second quarter.
- The company’s CashPro App, a mobile banking app, saw its highest number of monthly downloads in June 2021.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Lavin@PBN.com.
