US Bank Goes Omnichannel With New Retail Hire

A longtime retail executive has joined the omnichannel side of the banking industry.

U.S. Bank announced the hire of Beau Gray to lead its omnichannel experience team. Gray will be responsible for guiding the team and executing a strategy to determine how customers interact digitally with U.S. Bank’s ecosystem. Gray is coming to the bank’s team from Best Buy, where he served as VP of customer experience and strategy.

“U.S. Bank is committed to providing customers a consistent experience with the bank whether they come to us through mobile, online, ATM, by phone or in person at the branch,” said Gareth Gaston, executive VP of omnichannel banking at U.S. Bank. “Beau brings great experience and vision to make the customer experience great. We are thrilled to have him on our team.”

At Best Buy, Gray’s roles had him leading a group of retail strategists, analysts, researchers and designers. He also held similar roles at both American Eagle Outfitters and Kohl’s. He holds three patents and studied communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

The bank recently announced that the updated version of the U.S. Bank mobile app for iPhone has added Touch ID as an easier way for customers to log in to access their financial details. This means the ability to swap passwords for the biometric option during mobile login.

Beyond the Touch ID addition, the bank also announced that customers will have a new way to deposit checks via their mobile devices. Updated software in the U.S. Bank mobile app has improved the image capture abilities by allowing customers to import a check into the app from various angles or under low-light conditions.

Also announced by U.S. Bank this year was the ability to provide person-to-person mobile payments, including a real-time option through Early Warning’s clearXchange network.