10% of Sparebanken Vest’s online customers register for mobile banking since launch

Oslo, Norway, 17th December 2012 – Norwegian bank Sparebanken Vest today revealed one in every ten of its online customers are now using its mobile banking application since its launch on the 4th of October 2012 - with more than 500 new registrations every day. Sparebanken Vest has selected Encap’s award-winning software-based authentication for its mobile app. Encap is driving user adoption for Sparebanken Vest through a fast, simple and secure registration and login process, providing an outstanding customer experience.

Sparebanken Vest’s mobile banking app allows its 250,000 retail customers to access balance enquiries, transfer money between accounts, make payments, and track bill due dates. The app, available for both iOS and Android platforms, was created by Sparebanken Vest to provide its customers with banking services on the move. Working with Encap’s partner, Evry, Sparebanken Vest fully integrated Encap into the mobile banking app to deliver the best user experience in the market.

The mobile banking app uses two-factors - “something you know” and “something you have” to authenticate users. Encap’s patented technology “fingerprints” a user’s smartphone or tablet and lets the user select a PIN. The Encap software is integrated into the mobile banking app to allow a seamless and intuitive user experience and remove context switches that obstruct use and adoption. The result is a highly secure login process that is just as easy to use as one-factor process, but without the need for tokens or using the SIM.

“Mobile will very soon overtake online as the primary channel for interactions with the bank for our customers,” said Jan Erik Kjerpeseth, deputy managing director at Sparebanken Vest. “In just over two months after launch, registration of our mobile app has been extraordinary, with about 500 to 600 new registrations every day. We have received lots of positive feedback on our choice of login solution, our customers are delighted that we have chosen to move away from existing solutions based on tokens.”

“At Encap we believe that a great user experience is the key in getting customers to adopt mobile banking – they don’t want to carry around a hardware token. Banks need to be uncompromising in marrying this demand for speed and simplicity with their own need for secure transactions,” said Thomas Bostrøm Jørgensen, CEO, Encap. “We’re proud to have helped Sparebanken Vest bridge the gap between security and user experience.”