U.S. Bank Mobile App Extends To Corporate Clients

U.S Bank mobile payment account access that was once limited to consumer customers has now expanded to a portion of the bank’s corporate clients who want to access banking on the go, U.S. Bank announced Thursday (Oct. 23).

The U.S. Bank Access Online Mobile app will allow corporate travel and purchasing card clients the ability to retrieve real-time account information instead of relying on checking a computer for their banking needs. This data-management a reporting tool is aimed at simplifying account management for the cardholder and ease the burden on administrators who previously had to manage the accounts from a computer. Now, however, cardholders can see account summaries to check balances, transaction history, payment due dates. Upcoming enhancements include fraud alerts, transaction and security alerts, electronic receipt attachments and mobile single-use account payment capability.

Dominic Venturo, chief innovation officer for U.S. Bank, said by expanding the mobile app function to corporate clients, it links the gap between the corporate and consumer need. U.S. Bank customer expect a familiar experience with all their banking needs, whether it be personal or professional business, and having the ability to access a similar app for corporate needs makes for an easy transition. 

“We can make that experience even better with customers by taking what we’ve done on the consumer world and apply it to the corporate world,” Venturo told PYMNTS.com CEO Karen Webster in an interview Friday (Oct. 24). Launching the app, he added, was a direct response to what he’s heard customers asking for in the industry. The rise of mobile banking app usage on the consumer paved the way for integrating the same concepts into the corporate customer’s experience.

Developing the app started with considering four basic questions: Would it improve service? Does it reduce fraud or risk? Will the app increase purchase volume? And will it add value to the already existing services? The app does, Ventura said.

“They can access their actual card information so we’re levering some of the virtual card experience that we’ve had with our co-brand partners on the retail side actually to be able to render the card information, which is useful for making an online or a phone purchase if you don’t have the physical card immediately handy,” Venturo said. “When we’re focused on how individuals are doing their business with us, we are trying to understand where the opportunities are to leverage things across the businesses that we operate in. …We’re finding more of the connection to ‘well if I can do this for my consumer banking why can’t I do this for my corporate card? Why can’t I do this for other kinds of transactions.’ ”

In terms of fraud protection, Venturo said U.S. Bank has noticed that the best “fraud-alert engine” in the market is actual the card holder, saying the corporate mobile app also allows for easier fraud alert options for the customer that helps reduce fraud loss, improve experience and enhance the ability to authorize transactions.

While mobile banking access on the consumer side has grown in popularity, the corporate side has lagged, Ventura said, but that’s also because so much focus was given toward developing the consumer aspect. Because corporate banking adds an element of more technical designs and security measures, it took more time to develop. But this app ill help synch the two markets, he said.

“We have the ability to converge those worlds as the tech continues to advance to make all that work just that much more seamlessly,” Ventura said.

U.S. Bank has been recognized as an innovator for commercial payments business since it developed the first purchasing card in the 1980s. It was also named 2014 Mobile Bank of the Year by Mobile Commerce Daily. This new app, designed for both Android and iOs based phones and can be found through iTunes and Google Play, is another example of U.S. Banks commitment to developing its products to meet its customer’s needs and expand its client base. 

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Editor’s note: A previous version of this story indicated the Access Online Mobile App allows cardholders to see security alerts, electronic receipt attachments and mobile single-use account payment capability. The story has been changed to note that those are upcoming enhancements and weren’t currently available as of October 27, 2014.