In terms of selecting a bank, in preparation for this I spent a good deal of time looking at the online offerings (Web and App) of the three main players (AIB, BOI, PTSB, vs Ulster). In terms of functionality, interface quality etc I'd rate them as follows: AIB:8, BOI:6, PTSB:3. I'd give Ulster a strong 9 (Which I suppose reflects the fact that they are leveraging the comparatively huge investment in online platforms by Nat West)
In giving these scored, I accept that every user’s needs and perceptions are different, and what one user views as the omission of critical functionality may be completely irrelevant to the next person. In other words I've tried to be objective, but you know how it goes...... My rating seeks to take into account both Web and App interfaces.
Ulster Bank – 9+
My strong rating for UB is based on the following:
Notwithstanding anything else I can say about BOI, they certainly would win the award for “best improver over the last 12 months” They appear to be investing heavily in their online platforms and have gone from a situation a couple of years ago where they were very far behind to one where they are definitely catching up. This contrasts with AIB whose online offerings appear to have changed little in recent years. If BOI continue to invest and improve they may well draw level or even surpass AIB. Nevertheless there remains considerable room for improvement
I have no experience of these systems (there are two different platforms in use, www.currentaccount.ie or www.mycu.ie). I have however used the CU online interface (Web and App) for my CU Deposit/Share account and that would score a 1/10 for its lack of intuitiveness, clumsy navigation, pointless duplicate authentication and downright weird handling of statement requests. I have no idea whether or not their Current Account app/interface is any better.
Summary
In summary, UB are the only ones who have been pushing forward and using technology to improve the customer experience. (Easy for them I suppose given that they use the same platform as NatWest and leverage from that investment which is in a different league to any of the other banks mentioned here). I believe I could work with either the AIB or BOI interfaces, accepting that I would probably have to make more telephone calls to customer support, especially in the case of the latter. I use the PTSB interface for a few deposit accounts which I check every few weeks and it is ok for this, it would drive me nuts if I had to use it daily.
I haven’t bothered with KBC as they are exiting and I had a few dreadful experiences with the stability of their systems (in 2017/2018) which caused me to leave them rapidly, but that's a story for another day.
So that’s my thoughts for what they are worth and I hope they prove to be of some assistance. I’m sure others will come at it from a different perspective and accordingly will reach a different set of conclusions.
In giving these scored, I accept that every user’s needs and perceptions are different, and what one user views as the omission of critical functionality may be completely irrelevant to the next person. In other words I've tried to be objective, but you know how it goes...... My rating seeks to take into account both Web and App interfaces.
Ulster Bank – 9+
My strong rating for UB is based on the following:
- Clear and logical interface with excellent navigation, which suggests that this has received serious professional design input
- All basic/everyday banking transactions available including full online management of DD and S/O.
- 7 year statement archive online for all accounts, in PDF format
- Track record of timely adoption of beneficial new technologies (e.g. fingerprint and facial recognition, ApplePay etc) and development of separate apps for iPhone and iPad which play to the strengths of each form factor
- Web interface continues to be maintained and updated, in parallel to the App
- Ongoing investment with frequent updates, some quite significant, to add functionality, update and improve interfaces, and generally make online banking the contact point of choice.
- Significant “non-core” functionality, e.g. excellent self-service for fraud alerts (on credit card), self-service management of paper/paperless options by account, self-service management of daily payment limits in the range €0 - €25,000, with separate settings for Internet banking, Mobile App transactions and Open Banking ( I particularly like being able to self-manage these limits as it encourages best practice and allows a limit to be set to a low figure for normal use and then set higher if required on occasion and then reset immediately, and set to zero for any function that isn’t used)
- Core Functionality is solid
- Navigation and Interface is good
- Not much in the way of new or innovative functionality appearing recently
Notwithstanding anything else I can say about BOI, they certainly would win the award for “best improver over the last 12 months” They appear to be investing heavily in their online platforms and have gone from a situation a couple of years ago where they were very far behind to one where they are definitely catching up. This contrasts with AIB whose online offerings appear to have changed little in recent years. If BOI continue to invest and improve they may well draw level or even surpass AIB. Nevertheless there remains considerable room for improvement
- Core functionality is OK
- Unable to view/list active/cancelled Direct Debit mandates
- Layout/Navigation needs decluttering, more logical organisation and would benefit from a full makeover with input by interface design professionals
- Apart from balance display, no online access to Regular Saver Accounts (e.g. can’t see transactions, can’t request a statement etc). And withdrawal requests for these accounts are via a clunky home-grown messaging system (that looks like a mainframe based e-mail system) with a two/three day turnaround (These are not notice accounts)
- Numerous other pseudo online self-service options which actually just generate a messaging request, with no tracking and caveats such as “may take up to 5 days”
- TFA/MFA is cumbersome and not intuitive, particularly for Web access
- Core functionality generally OK
- Online statements disappear after 12 months (I’ve marked them down by 1 point for this on the basis that it is downright stupid, an additional 1 point on the basis that data storage is so cheap today that it is mean and churlish, and a further 1 point on the basis that you have to telephone them and request a paper copy of any statements you haven’t downloaded for which they then charge a per item fee. This makes no sense and is nothing more than a scam to bleed customers.
- Numerous minor irritants, e.g. when you open the app and open an account the three most recent transactions display, to see any more than this you have to go through the TFA hoop, no access to statements from App (Web only), etc
- Interface is like something designed for the Young Scientist Exhibition 1995 to show the future of banking in the 21st Century and programmed in VBA4
- Again the TFA/MFA is cumbersome at best and downright awful when it comes to accessing statements (e.g. if you need to view/print statements for three accounts, you end up going through the MFA four times). It also contains gaps (initial log-on to web portal doesn’t require authorisation, just user number and PIN)
I have no experience of these systems (there are two different platforms in use, www.currentaccount.ie or www.mycu.ie). I have however used the CU online interface (Web and App) for my CU Deposit/Share account and that would score a 1/10 for its lack of intuitiveness, clumsy navigation, pointless duplicate authentication and downright weird handling of statement requests. I have no idea whether or not their Current Account app/interface is any better.
Summary
In summary, UB are the only ones who have been pushing forward and using technology to improve the customer experience. (Easy for them I suppose given that they use the same platform as NatWest and leverage from that investment which is in a different league to any of the other banks mentioned here). I believe I could work with either the AIB or BOI interfaces, accepting that I would probably have to make more telephone calls to customer support, especially in the case of the latter. I use the PTSB interface for a few deposit accounts which I check every few weeks and it is ok for this, it would drive me nuts if I had to use it daily.
I haven’t bothered with KBC as they are exiting and I had a few dreadful experiences with the stability of their systems (in 2017/2018) which caused me to leave them rapidly, but that's a story for another day.
So that’s my thoughts for what they are worth and I hope they prove to be of some assistance. I’m sure others will come at it from a different perspective and accordingly will reach a different set of conclusions.
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