Santander launches ISA mobile app
Santander has launched the UK’s first standalone ISA mobile app , which was designed and developed with mobile specialist company Monitise.
The new app is now available to Santander customers and non-customers on iOS and Android, bringing simple and accessible ways for consumers to manage their ISAs (tax-free Individual Savings Accounts) and find out more about the products and rates available to them ahead of the UK ISA deadline on 5 April 2015.
The app allows consumers to easily view information about ISAs, compare interest rates, find out how much interest they can earn via a calculator and keep track of how far off the ISA deadline is to ensure they maximise their ISA allowance via a bright and bold countdown clock. It also has details of Santander’s ISA product range and allows customers to open new ISAs, upgrade existing ones and make transfers into ISAs.
The clean user interface sees Monitise Create, a division of Mobile Money provider Monitise, draw on its design and development capabilities and experience of putting the consumer at the heart of mobile strategies to deliver a revolution in simple, effective and intuitive mobile banking.
The launch follows Monitise’s collaboration with Santander on the launch of Yaap, the bank’s Spanish m-commerce joint venture with CaixaBank and Telefónica, Santander’s SmartBank app designed for students, and builds on Santander’s investment in Monitise in November 2014.
Michelle Kent, UK Director of Digital at Santander, said: “Our new ISA app provides an additional channel of choice as we see customers increasingly managing many elements of their lives, and especially their finances, via digital and mobile. It forms part of our digital strategy and our commitment to being a bank that is simple, personal and fair.”
Helen Bierton, Head of Savings at Santander, said: “The app will help people to maximise their tax efficient savings and make the most of their hard-earned cash. With this year’s ISA deadline fast approaching, now is the time for savers to look to make use of their ISA allowances to ensure they take advantage of the tax-free interest available to them. It’s also worth planning ahead this year, as the tax year end also falls over the Easter weekend.”
Alistair Crane, President, Content at Monitise, said: “Mobile is a major factor in a consumer’s choice of brand, and how they feel towards them. It has the power to transform the business-to-consumer relationship. With Santander putting digital at the heart of its strategy, we are working with the bank to invent services which create new ways of doing things for the benefit of consumers everywhere.”
