SmartApps provide a complete mobile banking platform to supplement existing text- and browser-based banking features, allowing financial institutions to create expanded capabilities for customers.

CSI, which provides core banking, payments processing, risk assessment, and other technology solutions to financial institutions, integrates its core system directly to SmartApps, which enables banks to provide a seamless mobile banking experience on a smart phone that's independent from an Internet Banking platform. The applications are automatically updated, ensuring that bank customers always have the most current version available on their phone. Customers can download the bank-branded app directly from mobile application stores, decreasing barriers to adoption.

"Tech-savvy bank customers do not want to search the Internet on their phones to access banking tools," said Michael Stevenson, senior vice president of St. Louis-based Royal Bank of Missouri ($329 million in assets). "They want to open an app and go directly to their secure account information. SmartApps allow us to provide the same mobile tools that the largest banks provide, which helps our customers bank on their terms, at their convenience."

Steve Powless, CEO of CSI, added, "Because the apps are tied directly to CSI's core system, financial institutions can service business and retail banking customers with one mobile software product that can be customized to fit the needs of each customer. Existing mobile systems are usually built on Internet banking platforms, requiring a different application for each customer segment."

Royal Bank of Missouri is pursuing mobile banking as a growth strategy to attract and retain younger customers as the bank expands into new areas. Stevenson expects 30 percent of online banking clients to use the bank's mobile banking app. Currently, Royal Bank's mobile users can access account balances, transfer funds track account activity, and find locations through the app. The app is secured by ATTUS Technologies, Inc.'s (a CSI company) WatchDOG CIP verification technology, which utilizes multifactor authentication to confirm customer identity.

"Banks need to recognize that mobile banking is projected to be the fastest growing channel," said Tom Shen, co-founder of Malauzai. "SmartApps provide a secure, easy way for banks to offer a service that has unlimited growth potential."