Huntington Bancshares Inc.’s focus is on developing customer-friendly applications for touch-screen mobile devices such as Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Through its affiliated companies and 600-plus branches, Huntington provides a range of financial services including checking, loans, savings, insurance and investment services to customers for 144 years. Huntington also offers retail and commercial financial services online at Huntington.com, through its telephone bank and through its network of more than 1,300 ATMs, and now its looking to ramp up its mobile initiatives.

Mobile Commerce Daily’s Dan Butcher interviewed newly hired Jeff Dennes, senior vice president and director of online and mobile services at Huntington, Columbus, OH. Here is what he had to say: 

What is your mandate? What are your benchmarks for success?
My goal is to create the best online and digital experience for our customers, analogous to what we’ve created in our Huntington branches.

Paramount to that experience is a continued focus on convenience so our customers can access their accounts and financial information any time, any place. 

The benchmark for success is customer usage.

As customers begin to use our mobile technology more often, and as we introduce new applications, it should further promote the success of our mobile channels.

The goal is to create the best, most user-friendly customer experience so our customers can access and understand their finances wherever they are because of the technology Huntington developed.

What are some areas in the mobile space where Huntington would like to expand?
The areas of particular focus for me as Huntington invests more in the mobile space are in creating applications for Apple and Android, and leaning towards touch computing as a new channel.

The customers that have iPhone and Android devices are already doing more with their phone as the devices allow you to do things that others do not.

These are the customers that will increasingly adopt mobile banking, which is precisely why we’re investing in this area. 

What level of adoption have Huntington’s mobile banking platforms seen to date?
Currently, we have a 60 percent penetration of our deposit customers for online banking and our number of mobile and text banking customers continues to grow steadily with 43,000 active mobile users and 67,000 active text users.

With an increased investment in our mobile channels to give our customers the best digital experience possible, and more specifically the development of applications for Apple and Android, I expect adoption rates to increase dramatically in the year to come.

What is the current state of mobile banking and financial services, and what is its potential?
The current state of mobile banking is similar to what we saw in online banking 10 years ago—however, there aren’t as many barriers for adoption with mobile.

Customers already have the technology and devices, and security concerns aren’t as great as they once were as customers have already overcome those concerns through the adoption of online banking.

The potential is very vast, and I expect mobile banking will be a hot area in the next five years.

Final Take
Dan Butcher, associate editor, Mobile Commerce Daily