Barclays new improved mobi site - Barclays.mobi & British Mobile Banking

As many readers of our site will know, and those who keep themselves abreast of mobile web developments, Barclays Bank have had their mobile website for 2 years now. Barclays.mobi was launched in 2007. It is located at Barclays.mobi

It is a cracking site full of really useful information, with ease of access for mobile customers and a nice clean design. A few improvements as detailed below have been added which has helped greatly. Barclays along with other Banks and companies joining the ranks of others on the mobile web are learning themselves how the mobile web differs from the conventional web and how their mobile customers banking needs differ. And are adapting their sites accordingly.

The British Banking sector are lagging behind Barclays in neglecting their mobile sites though. I have seen none of them promote mobile sites and it has to be said i know of only a couple of  other British dedicated mobile banking site at the .mobi mobile web address. HalifaxIntermediaries.mobi & FirstDirect.mobi MyFD.mobi

The real shame is i know bank of America and Wachovia and others stateside are really promoting their sites at Bofa.mobi etc. by detailing them on atm screens and customers statements, tv ads etcetera so their customers actually know about the sites. I have been a lifelong Barclays customer and I only know about their site at  Barclays.mobi because I keep abreast of mobile developments and sites because of my job. It seems no Barclays customers are aware of this fantastic resource. I know this beacuse even Barclays staff don’t know about their site! I was in my local branch the other day and none of the counter staff had ever heard about Barclays.mobi, none of the telephone banking staff had either.

(Update today; 18th september 2009)

(I contacted Barclays Media centre today by phone and email today,  about the lack of information about their mobile banking service at Barclays.mobi, and how if even the staff don’t know about their site, how can the public, and if they were planning to promote it, and how? We will inform you of their response and plans.)

There are however a vast number of other global banking giants joining the fray. To list a few:

Barclays Article:

Barclays now has a new improved mobi site. They also offer free Kaspersky mobile fraud protection which covers anti-virus, anti-spam and anti-theft protection for their barclays mobile customers.

See the full press release at: www.newsroom.barclays.com/content/detail.aspx?ReleaseID=1612&NewsAreaID=2 and below

“Barclays unveils improved mobile banking service

10 Sep 2009 11:00

Barclays today unveils improvements to two key areas of its popular mobile phone banking site www.barclays.mobi providing additional relevant services and simplified access to online banking for our mobile customers.

The first area of improvement is to the online banking log-in pages which have been optimised for access and viewing on mobile devices.  In addition, a new ‘quick access’ log-in has been added for customers who purely want to view their balance, statement or to make a transfer. Research undertaken by Barclays has shown that complex logging in processes put many customers off using a mobile phone for online banking.

Sean Gilchrist, Barclays Digital Banking Director said: “Today’s improvements will significantly improve access to online banking for our existing mobile customers and will also reach out to new customers seeking simpler mobile access and navigation.

The second area of improvement has focused around the popular mobile branch and ATM locator which enables customers to find their nearest ATM or Barclays branch.  A new mobile specific locator has been implemented with maps that adjust to fit the mobile handset which is being used.

Sean Gilchrist said: “Our research and customer feedback has shown that how the banking content fits on the screen of a mobile phone is crucial to more people using such services in the future. We believe our mobile banking service leads the market as we are the only UK bank which offers a specific mobi domain site, giving customers web pages designed specifically for viewing on mobile phones and content that customers want when on the move.

“We have seen phenomenal growth in the use of mobile banking this year and we will continue to make improvements to the service.  The next phase will be to optimise other online banking services such as viewing balances, statements, transfers and payments to make mobile banking even quicker and easier for customers.”

continued at ………………..barclays.com”