A smartphone bank offers its services primarily through a mobile app. Some smartphone banks also enable some amount of access to their services via web browsers.
The term smartphone bank is often used synonymously with the term neobank. In many cases smartphone banks are run by recently-established financial services providers which compete directly with established banks.
Although the point of contact with customers is, in every case, a mobile app, smartphone banks may differ from each other on several points:
- Domicile: Some smartphone banks are domiciled in Switzerland. Others are domiciled in other countries, but offer their services to residents of Switzerland.
- Legal status: Many smartphone banks are not operated by or in collaboration with actual licensed banks. Some are operated by non-bank financial services providers which hold fintech licenses. There are also smartphone banks which are subsidiaries of long-established banks.
- Services: Smartphone banks usually offer payment cards which customers can use to pay online and at POS terminals. Some smartphone banks provide each customer with an actual private account at a bank which can be used for incoming and outgoing transactions. There are also app-based services which exclusively cater to retirement saving or wealth management, but these generally are not referred to as smartphone banks.
More on this topic:
Neobanks and smartphone banks: Questions and answers
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