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Niti Badarinath of U.S. Bank Named Digital Banker of the Year
[June 02, 2014]

Niti Badarinath of U.S. Bank Named Digital Banker of the Year


MINNEAPOLIS --(Business Wire)--

Niti Badarinath of U.S. Bank was named "Digital Banker of the Year" today by American Banker. Badarinath, senior vice president and head of mobile banking and money movement, joined U.S. Bank in 2009 and has helped cement its position as an industry leader in mobile banking.

"We recognized early on that mobile banking was an enormous opportunity to gain market share and deepen customer relationships," said Kent Stone, vice chairman of consumer banking sales and support for U.S. Bank. "Under Niti's leadership, we've become top-of-mind for industry observers and customers seeking a full-service mobile banking experience. His guidance, insight and drive for success in the mobile channel certainly make him a deserving 'Digital Banker of the Year.'"

Recognized by the industry for being one of leading innovators, U.S. Bank regularly ranks among the top banks for functional richness, superior customer experience, and ensuring customer security and privacy. Badarinath is responsible for all aspects of U.S. Bank's mobile channel, including driving the innovation agenda, defining the bank's long-term strategy and roadmap, defining the business case, setting investment priorities, and managing delivery to U.S. Bank customers. He is also responsible for running the bank's mobile channel - its adoption and usage growth goals, and meeting revenue commitments.

"Adding value and improving the customer experience are the core drivers of U.S. Bank's mobile strategy," said Badarinath. "Our innovations address key customer pain points or provide new, differentiated value to our customers. Our customers seem to love them, as seen by the rapid adoption and use of these new features. A few years ago, paying your cable bill by taking a picture of it with your phone would've been unheard of, but now we've seen mobile bill pay more than double since the introduction of Photo Bill Pay. The ease of mobile check deposit has driven almost 90 percent of the checks deposited electronically to be done via mobile."

Notable mobile nnovation initiatives at U.S. Bank include:



  • Photo Banking: "Photo Banking" has become a common term across the banking industry, thanks to the leadership of U.S. Bank and Badarinath's mobile banking team. What began in 2010 when U.S. Bank was one of the first major banks in the nation to bring mobile check deposits to customers, has grown to include other ways of using imaging to enhance the customer experience, and provide innovative new capabilities: U.S. Bank launched Mobile Photo Bill Pay in March 2013, and Mobile Photo Balance Transfer in November 2013.
  • Pay-a-Person: U.S. Bank has made significant customer experience and functional enhancements to its person-to-person (P2P) product. Called "Pay-A-Person," this builds on the core P2P capability, delivered using Fiserv's POPMoney, and adds key features like "Send-to-Account" "Request Money," and "e-Greetings." U.S. Bank also introduced faster ways of moving money, adding the "Next Day Payments" feature in November 2013 and "Real-Time" or Instant P2P in February 2014. This last feature, the first of its kind among major banks, delivers funds to the recipient instantly.
  • Mobile Payments: In collaboration with our payments innovation team, Badarinath's team has worked on recent advances in mobile payment innovations including pilot projects in voice biometrics, augmented reality to provide location-aware offers from participating merchants, digital tokenization that increases the security of personal data when making purchases via mobile device, mobile wallets, and streamlined m-commerce through the bank's up-and-coming app, Peri.

American Banker and Bank Technology News noted a number of these initiatives as determining factors for the award, stating in its article today:

"In the past year, no bank in the country has innovated in mobile banking as much as U.S. Bank. It was one of the first out of the gate with mobile photo bill payments, in March 2013, and late last year it launched an app that allows consumers to apply for a balance transfer to a U.S. Bank credit card simply by taking a picture of a credit card statement. Its pilots of voice biometrics for customer authentication and voice-activated mobile banking are among the first. And a unique app the bank launched this year called Peri is one of the few bank offerings to offer a plausible take on mobile commerce."


About U.S. Bank
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), with $371 billion in assets as of March 31, 2014, is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, the 5th largest commercial bank in the United States. The Company operates 3,083 banking offices in 25 states and 4,878 ATMs and provides a comprehensive line of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. Visit U.S. Bancorp on the web at usbank.com.


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