Recently, application based banks are becoming more and more popular. This extends not just to North America, but to Asia as well. I mention Asia, because Asia is becoming one of the most prevalent forces in the FinTech industry. As I mentioned in one of my previous blog posts, in 2016 the biggest deals in FinTech investment wise were centered in Asia. Between 2011 and 2014 the number of users on mobile based banks, almost doubled and the slope of the trajectory continues to become steeper as these companies gain more and more money from investments. With FinTech developments in banking, we can see there is a shift to focus on the needs of the consumer, rather than the consumer focusing on the banks. As efforts are made to improve security, the accessibility and features that such apps provide, can perhaps even vault them to the popularity of the big banks in the future. This is true especially as many of these companies grow their consumer base, and begin to make a name for themselves. A McKinsey study also showed that in Asia people checked their banking information more from their mobile devices than using cash machines or visiting banks by a large amount. It will be interesting to see if these trends continue, or if big banks find ways to push back on an international level.
http://www.atimes.com/financial-technology-making-app-based-banks-future/