Many banks announced: stop operating credit card apps! Why?
At the end of the year and the beginning of the next year, many banks announced that they would cease operating their credit card apps.Recently, Bohai Bank announced that the "Bohai Bank Credit C
At the end of the year and the beginning of the next year, many banks announced that they would cease operating their credit card apps.Recently, Bohai Bank announced that the "Bohai Bank Credit Card" APP will stop service from December 30, 2024. The credit card APP function has been moved to the "Bohai Bank" APP credit card section.
The Financial Times reporter noted that Bohai Bank is not the only bank to take similar actions. Since last year, a number of local commercial banks have announced the closure of their credit card apps.On November 27, 2024, the Beijing Rural Commercial Bank's official website announced that in order to provide better mobile financial services, the bank's "Phoenix Credit Card" APP business functions will be migrated to the "Beijing Rural Commercial Bank Mobile Banking" APP. At the same time, the bank plans to shut down the "Phoenix Credit Card" APP on March 31, 2025, and it will be inaccessible at that time.In April last year, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank also issued an announcement on its official WeChat public account stating that from July 1, 2024, the functions of the Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank Credit Card APP will be migrated to the Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank Mobile Banking APP.Many industry insiders interviewed said that in recent years, the operating costs of bank credit card apps have been high, but most of them have not been very active. For banks, especially small and medium-sized banks, shutting down and integrating mobile operating channels is not only to implement the policy requirements of financial management departments, but also to help reduce costs and increase efficiency.A Financial Times reporter noticed that in September 2024, the State Financial Supervision and Administration issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Mobile Internet Applications in the Banking and Insurance Industries" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), which clearly stated that financial institutions should strengthen the overall management of mobile applications, establish a mobile application ledger, improve the entry and exit mechanism, coordinate the mobile application construction plans of various departments and branches, and reasonably control the number of mobile applications."Mobile applications with low user activity, poor user experience, redundant functions, and high security and compliance risks should be optimized, integrated, or terminated in a timely manner," the notice mentioned."Under the 'anxiety' of digital transformation, some banks have developed many apps. After some apps are developed and deployed online, there is little follow-up on subsequent maintenance and operations." Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of China UnionPay, said in an interview that small and medium-sized banks should avoid being greedy and "redundant" apps should be merged or classified.The reporter noticed that in order to reduce costs and increase efficiency, all banks are vigorously integrating mobile channels. In addition to credit card apps, direct banking apps are also being shut down, removed from shelves, and integrated and optimized.Since 2024, many banks including Hankou Bank, Dongguan Bank, Hami City Commercial Bank, etc. have announced adjustments to their direct banking apps, some of which were shut down and ceased operations, while others migrated related services to their mobile banking apps."Bank APP can optimize the allocation of various bank resources through integration, avoiding duplication and waste of resources." Wang Pengbo, chief analyst of the financial industry at Broadcom Consulting, believes that "mobile banking integration will become a trend in the future. It is recommended that banks set up a dedicated mobile banking operation team, establish overall assessment indicators from a general direction, and then gradually consider detailed operations."
