First Hawaiian Bank upgrades mobile app with additional features

First Hawaiian Bank is taking another major step forward in its digital transformation.

The state’s largest bank is due to announce today the launch of a new mobile banking app that will go beyond basic transaction functions and offer customers account tools that will make it easy to track spending, set monthly budgets, aggregate and view all financial accounts in one place and receive account insights for money management.

First Hawaiian’s upgraded app comes on the heels of the bank’s refreshed fhb.com website, which was rolled out earlier this year to connect people with financial education, easy online applications and a more personalized experience.

“The ability for customers to manage and direct their financial lives has become much more powerful than before, and digitalization is giving customers the tools to manage their finances how and when and where they want to,” Chris Dods, executive vice president, digital banking and marketing group, said in an interview. “Our vision of this is we’re the intersection of technology and relationship banking. Technology supports the direct relations we have with our customers. We’re not going away. We’re adding to our relationship approach to banking.”

The typical basic mobile banking app allows customers to transfer money between accounts, locate the nearest ATM, check account balances and make a mobile check deposit.

But First Hawaiian said the expanded functionality of its new app goes beyond those basic transaction functions.

“We’ve expanded the functionality of First Hawaiian’s mobile app, to go beyond other basic banking apps, so that our customers have easy access to tools to help them better understand and manage their finances,” First Hawaiian Chairman, President and CEO Bob Harrison said in a statement. “The mobile app is intuitive and customizable to create a more personalized experience, giving our customers the power to take control of their financial lives with practical, day-to-day money management resources along with the ability to get a comprehensive view of all of their financial accounts in one place whether they be at First Hawaiian or other financial institutions.”

Among the upgraded app’s features are:

>> Account aggregation: All financial accounts can be integrated in one place, even ones held at other financial institutions, including 401(k)s, investments accounts, credit cards and mortgage and savings accounts.

>> Money Map: The app automatically categorizes all transactions and allows customers to manage budget categories to personalize the app for their financial objectives. For example, customers can set a monthly budget and track how much they want to spend on groceries or entertainment. The app will inform them whether they are on track with these goals.

>> Insights: An automated notification system provides artificial intelligence-driven financial insights and advice. It generates notifications about the aggregated accounts on the app and continuously improves through self-learning analytics. Insights will provide assistance with subscription management, category spending notifications, debt payment reminders, duplicate payment notifications, monthly spending comparisons and more.

Dods said Money Map may be the most popular feature on the new mobile app.

“On the website, that was the feature we saw tremendous growth in multiples of increase and the ability for us to provide insights into customers’ financial lives to help them manage their accounts and identify transactions that may be higher than normal,” Dods said.

Dods, who will assume the role of vice chairman and chief operating officer at the bank on Saturday, took over the digital banking division a little more than two years ago.

“It was at that time that the bank needed to work on transforming the organization, and it was at that time we made the commitment internally to transform the organization from a digital standpoint to be able to offer the customers the financial tool services and insights to help them with their financial lives in a digital environment,” he said. “We upgraded our website to be able to drive a more personal experience for our customers. Launching the new mobile app will provide customers with financial tools and insights into their finances.”

FHB customers can download the new app through the Apple App Store or Google Play and get training on how to use the FHB Mobile app to reach their goals at fhb.com/mobilevideos.