Economy These are the best mobile banking apps in the world

Sia Partners examined 135 banks from 17 different countries around the world, mostly in Western Europe, the USA, Canada, the Middle East, and East Asia.

The two best banking apps were both from Belgian banks, KBC and Belfius. KBC's app has a digital assistant in the line of Apple's Siri or Microsoft's Cortana. It lets you ask questions and requests operations in English, Dutch or French. Its capabilities are not limited to managing banking operations. Customers can book train tickets, monitor if the parking meter payment is close to run out, get recommendations on cheaper utility prices in one's neighbourhood, get offers on credits or insurance and immediate assistance in case of accident or damage if already insured.

Here is the full report (PDF): Sia Partners - Mobile Banking Benchmark

The 2021 mobile baking apps top 50 ranking is as follows. Those in bold are neo online banks available in many countries.

  1. KBC (Belgium)
  2. Belfius (Belgium)
  3. Revolut Premium (UK)
  4. Barclays Bank (UK)
  5. N26 (Germany)
  6. Intesa San Paolo (Italy)
  7. Rabobank (Netherlands)
  8. Monzo (UK)
  9. Starling (UK)
  10. Boursorama (France)
  11. illimity (Italy)
  12. Hello bank! (France)
  13. Bunq (Netherlands)
  14. Banque Populaire (France)
  15. RBS (UK)
  16. Aion (Belgium)
  17. Santander (Spain)
  18. Mox Bank (Hong Kong)
  19. ING (Netherlands)
  20. Fineco (Italy)
  21. Al Rajhi Bank (Saudi Arabia)
  22. DBS Bank (Singapore)
  23. Fortuneo (France)
  24. TD (Canada/USA)
  25. Livi Bank (Hong Kong)
  26. Orange Bank (France)
  27. Unicredit (Italy)
  28. Société Générale (France)
  29. Caixabank (Spain)
  30. Attijariwafa Bank (Morocco)
  31. Argenta (Belgium)
  32. Hang Seng Bank (Hong Kong)
  33. Natwest (UK)
  34. Emirates NBD (UAE)
  35. HSBC (Hong Kong)
  36. Bred (France)
  37. Maybank (Malaysia)
  38. First Abu Dhabi Bank (UAE)
  39. Commercial Bank of Dubai (UAE)
  40. Caisse d'Epargne (France)
  41. WeLab Bank (Hong Kong)
  42. Bank of China (China)
  43. CFG Bank (Morocco)
  44. CIC (France)
  45. Saudi British Bank (Saudi Arabia)
  46. BNP Paribas Fortis (France/Belgium)
  47. HSBC UK (UK)
  48. Banque Internationale à Luxembourg (Luxembourg)
  49. National Commercial Bank (Saudi Arabia)
  50. Mashreq Bank (UAE)

The first US bank is Citibank is 68th position. The reports says that Open & Beyond banking is almost non existent in North America.
 
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For those among you who do not live in Belgium, the best mobile banking apps available to international customers are Revolut and N26, which I have both used and are great. Both neo-banks have a deposit protection of €100,000 according to EU laws.

Revolut is available in most of Europe (EU, UK, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland) as well as the United States, Australia, Japan and Singapore.

N26 is available in the Eurozone (except Malta and Cyprus) as well as the United States.

Both have free accounts or paid accounts. I am satisfied with the free account so far. A free account means no opening fee, no monthly fee, and a free debit card (Visa or Mastercard depending on the country).

What I really appreciate is the free ATM withdrawals when travelling abroad and no exchange fee when paying in a different currency. Most European banks usually charge something like 5€ per withdrawal outside the home country, even in the Eurozone. With an N26 or Revolut card, ATM fees are a thing of the past. Another benefit is the free 24/7 instant bank transfer in the SEPA area (most of Europe) to accounts from other banks, and worldwide to other N26 or Revolut members.

Both apps provide nice statistics showing how you spend your money. Transactions are automatically labelled by category, so you can easily see how much you spent on shopping, restaurants, transportation, and so on.

Both have advanced security functions. You can use disposable virtual cards for online payments. Your physical card is secured by your phone's location, so that even if it's stolen it cannot be used. You can block and unblock your card anytime through the app (no need to call the bank if you lost your card), change your PIN code in the app (no need to go to an ATM), disable/enable swipe payments or ATM withdrawals whenever you want...

Revolut's paid plans (from 3€ to 14€ per month) provide:

  • a higher free ATM withdrawal limit (up to 800€ per month anywhere in the world)
  • more kids for Junior accounts (up to 5 kids)
  • a higher purchase protection (up to £10,000 per year) and purchase insurance
  • higher interests on savings (up to 0.65% per year)
  • lower exchange fees for cryptocurrencies and commodities
  • unlimited currency exchanges with no fee
  • free lounge access when flights are delayed

N26's paid plans (4.9€ for Smart, 9.9€ for You, and 16.9€ for Metal) provide:
  • more free ATM withdrawals anywhere in the world
The Metal and You plans includes:

  • travel insurance (medical, flights, luggage, trip cancellations, Covid-19-related cancellations)
  • mobility insurance
  • winter sports insurance
The Metal plan also includes:
  • car rental insurance
  • phone insurance

In other words they are complementary. Revolut insures your purchases, while N26 insures pretty much everything else.

I like the fact that Revolut has multicurrency accounts in over 30 currencies with no fee on exchange rates as well as the possibility to invest in cryptocurrencies and commodities. That's a great way to invest in other things than stocks. Best of all, you can set up automated exchanges when a pair of currencies has reached a certain threshold. I set up over a hundred pairs, so that I can earn a few % on the change rate with the market fluctuations. Starting in 2021 Revolut also offers higher interests on savings, and even though it's not much it's better than nothing and often more than one can get in traditional banks.

My favourite N26 functionality is the custom spaces (or sub-accounts), which allows you to organise your money for specific purposes like travel account, restaurant fund, house renovation savings, emergency fund, or whatever you like. The Premium version allows you to save money with friends or family, with up to 10 participants managing funds together, for example for a shared trip or event.

Another great perk of having a N26 account is that you get various discounts on partner websites. At the moment you can get:
  • 4% off all flights, accommodation and car rentals with Booking.com on top of Genius discounts (4% may not seem much, but on big expanses like that it quickly adds up)
  • 8% trips and tours from GetYourGuide
  • 50% off Busuu (language learning)
  • 30% off Reebok (sports goods)
  • 20% off Freeletics (workouts & training plans)
  • 10% from Westwing (furniture)
  • +25GB in your Dropbox

Just the savings you get from one of those is good enough to open a N26 account. If you follow this link, you will also get 25€ free on your new N26 account.

Any doubt beyond the fact that Sia Partners ranked Revolut third and N26 fifth best mobile banking apps in the world? Trust the customer ratings. N26 is rated 4.5/5 in the Apple App Store and on Google Play, while Revolut is rated 4.7/5 on both.

I recommend to get both considering that they are free and complementary. I use them in addition to my 'regular' bank account as the functionalities are different. Click here to get your Revolut account while supporting Eupedia.
 
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Thanks for this info! There are so many banks now, but not each has an app, and I think that nowadays it's a must.
I use Revolut the most often, and for me, it's so easy to send or get money, and it takes no time.
I remember how long and hard it was before creating such applications when you needed to go to a bank to do all the procedures.
And it's great that some of them provide discounts or cashback
 

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