Absa finally ready to launch banking app

Absa has announced that it’s finally ready to launch a smartphone banking app, sometime after its competitors.

The bank, which is a subsidiary of Barclays Bank, has sent out media invitations confirming an official 10 April launch date.

ABSA is the last of the “big four” consumer banks in South Africa to launch a smartphone banking app. First National Bank (FNB) led the way by launching its app in mid 2011, while Standard Bank and Nedbank launched theirs within a couple of days of each other in mid 2012.

At this stage it’s unclear which platforms the Absa app will launch on first. It’s a fairly safe bet however that there will be iOS, Android and BlackBerry apps from the get go.

It’s also unclear what features the app will launch with, although it will have to come up with something fairly innovative if it wants to be competitive in the space. That’s especially imperative if the bank is to reverse its trend of losing customers.