Building for a Mobile First World

4/6/2017

Our focus on mobile banking is nothing new. In fact, NB Mobile was one of the first banking apps available in Massachusetts to incorporate picture check deposit.

It was obvious to us from the time modern smartphones were introduced some 10 years ago that they would become the dominant (and preferred) form factor for consumers and businesses alike. As the mobile app development world has matured over the past decade, something interesting occurred: a community bank of our size with a dedication to mobile app innovation can now keep pace if not surpass the technology offered by many of the mega-national big banks.

How can this be? These days there are more high-end software developers innovating and launching products in the financial space than ever before. It is much easier for a bank like ours to readily review, integrate, and launch the latest and greatest in mobile banking as opposed to the big bank behemoths which need to navigate through their vast corporate structure simply to decide whether or not to begin an upgrade cycle.

The ability to move quickly has catapulted our mobile and online platforms far beyond where anyone would expect a community bank to be able to reach. And we innovate across all our platforms with a simple customer focused mantra: bank how you want, it’s your money.

For example, we have customers who strictly use us on their mobile device and have never been to any of our branches. We have other customers who prefer using our branch network, others that work directly with their personal banker, while most customers utilize us in a blended fashion between NB Mobile, NB Online, with an occasional branch visit mixed in.

Though we enjoy our customers visiting us in branch, we recognize this is now a mobile first world and are dedicated to building solutions for it.

Along these lines, we’re proud to announce some recent feature upgrades to our already market leading banking app, NB Mobile.

Brand new to NB Mobile are:

NB to NB Transfers
This feature provides the ability to instantly transfer money from your Needham Bank account to any other Needham Bank customer. The funds are instantly available to the recipient and can be used immediately. We find this most commonly used among family members and roommates.

NB Mobile available on Smartwatches
Compatible with all Apple Watches and Android Wear Watches, NB Mobile can now be downloaded for use on your smartwatch. Used mostly for keeping track of balances, recent purchases, and account notifications, this new smartwatch integration is just another step in our long term strategy for the world of connected smart-wearables. Previously, we launched our integration with Apple Pay, which can be used via the Apple Watch and applicable iPhones.

Quick Balance
Have you ever just needed to quickly know your balance? Or check to see if a recent transaction occurred? Well we understand which is why we recently launched ‘Quick Balance,’ which gives our customers the ability to view their balances and most recent 5 transactions without having to log in to the app. Available in many user defined forms – as a drop down home screen widget, 3D Touch, natively in the message center, or a simple swipe down on the app login page – this feature has quickly become relied upon by many customers who are constantly on the go or making purchases with their debit cards.

Push Notifications
To further increase the ease of staying on top of current balances and transactions, customers can now set up real-time mobile push notification alerts. Customers can decide upon a dollar threshold for each notification type, as well as turn each on/off independently. Available push notifications include: Low Balance, High Balance, Large Withdrawal/Purchase, Large Deposit, Loan Payment Reminders, and Recurring Balance Updates.

Enhanced Purchase Rewards
The newly enhanced NB Purchase Rewards offers discounts at hundreds of participating local and national merchants. From grocery stores, coffee houses, restaurants, and pet services to hardware stores, flower deliveries, streaming subscriptions, and hotels, NB Purchase Rewards offer greater cash back monetary value than most national credit card point systems. The more you shop with your NB Debit Card, the more opportunities to receive cash back will become available.

Additional recent NB Mobile updates include:

  • Biometric Login: TouchID (Apple) and Fingerprint ID (Android)
  • Mobile Check Deposit – UX Update
  • PopMoney: NB Customer to Non-NB Customer Transfers
  • Secure Messaging
  • We invite you to contact one of our personal bankers to learn more about NB Mobile. All of their direct contact information can be found here within the appropriate branch detail page.

Still haven’t made the switch to NB Checking? Learn more about the account and then open it online, meet us at a branch, or have us come to you.