US Bank tops mobile banking surveys for second year in a row

• Insight: U.S. Bank is concentrating on enhancing customer engagement through its mobile banking initiatives.
• Risk Factor: Banks could lose customer trust if their mobile applications do not offer essential high-value features.
• Expert Insight: Emmett Higdon notes that the arrangement of features on a mobile app’s home screen significantly affects how visible these features are and how likely users are to engage with them.
  Bullet points generated by AI and reviewed by an editor.

U.S. Bank continues to excel in the realm of mobile banking, holding the top position in two influential industry rankings.
The bank secured the number one spot in mobile banking on two evaluation reports: one from Keynova Group and the other from Javelin Strategy & Research. Notably, Bank of America was recognized as the second-best.

U.S. Bank achieved similar accolades from both entities in 2024, reflecting its enduring commitment to its mobile banking strategy throughout the previous year.

“Customers expect their digital interactions to transcend basic transactions,” stated Ankit Bhatt, chief digital officer at U.S. Bank overseeing consumers, small businesses, and platforms. “They look for anticipatory and personalized experiences, which necessitates leveraging our data to offer richer, more useful, and informative experiences. These expectations are shaped by their interactions with other mobile applications, which they apply to their banking experiences.”

The Keynova Mobile Banker Scorecard has been assessing bank performance since 2011, with U.S. Bank maintaining the top ranking in nine consecutive assessments since 2021. (Keynova releases the Mobile Banker Scorecard biannually).

A crucial aspect of mobile banking, as outlined in the complete Keynova report, is still not universally adopted: real-time balance alerts. While 82% of surveyed banks provide real-time alerts for low balances, only 53% offer immediate notifications for overdrafts or negative balances.

As of 2019, U.S. Bank has provided real-time balance alerts and includes actionable items, such as transferring funds when customers receive overdraft notifications.

In Javelin’s 2025 Mobile Banking Report, U.S. Bank was recognized for excellence in mobile banking for the second consecutive year. According to Emmett Higdon, director of digital banking at Javelin, the bank retained its leadership position by enhancing its Security Center, pioneering account aggregation for open banking, and introducing app enhancements while maintaining the existing app navigation and layout.

“Our focus is on how features are presented, and that is what has catapulted U.S. Bank to the forefront compared to its peers,” Higdon told American Banker. “They excel in integrating offered functionalities and ensuring they are easily accessible to customers.”

Higdon underscored the significance of an app’s home screen when showcasing features effectively to users.

“The home screen of your mobile banking app is the most valuable real estate you have,” he stated. “It’s also the most impactful. A bank may have numerous incredible features designed to assist in managing finances, budgets, and cash flow. However, if these features are buried several clicks deep, they likely remain unseen, and customers may be oblivious to their existence.”

Budgeting tools and spending insights are examples of features that have yet to be seamlessly integrated into bank mobile platforms, including U.S. Bank. In a 2024 Consumer Reports survey of ten mobile banking applications, U.S. Bank received lower ratings by not offering readily accessible budgeting tools to all users. Instead, these tools are only provided when specific triggers are activated, such as low balances or overdraft fees.

In a response to inquiries, a representative from U.S. Bank informed American Banker that the bank provides budgeting tools that can encompass both U.S. Bank accounts and external aggregated accounts. Notifications are issued when customers exceed set category budgets. Additionally, the bank confirmed that it has revamped its checking account experience to better highlight monthly spending trends. Spending indicators, acknowledged as a strong attribute for U.S. Bank by Consumer Reports, belong to a separate category from budgeting tools.

“We consistently encourage banks on this front,” Higdon remarked. “While U.S. Bank and Bank of America have commendable spending insights, visibility remains a challenge. Many users may never delve deeper into their checking accounts, as other links or footnotes might distract from scrolling further down. Overall, banks need to improve how they make these features visible.”

Consumer Reports also indicated a general low engagement by consumers with bank budgeting tools. The 2023 Banking Apps Survey revealed that only 13% of surveyed users of banking apps have utilized features assisting in setting savings goals, 18% have engaged with budgeting tools, and 16% have taken advantage of round-up savings offers.

However, the overall uptake of mobile banking has become vital for financial institutions.

“Customers have expressed their preferences through their usage patterns,” Higdon noted. “Mobile banking is overtaking online banking with greater adoption rates and frequency of use. While online banking might be used a few times a month for tasks like bill payments, mobile banking often sees engagement multiple times a day. As such, the mobile banking app has become the primary touchpoint for clients. It is essential for banks to facilitate easy account management, transaction monitoring, and security, as this interaction also serves as a platform for selling additional accounts to customers.”

In the past year, over 67,000 families have utilized the family finance product Greenlight via the bank’s mobile app as of June 2025, according to U.S. Bank. While the bank did not provide details on how the partnership with Greenlight, which was announced in June 2024, has influenced app usage, it did indicate that new connectivity features for U.S. Bank Greenlight users are set to launch later this year.