• Belgium: most downloaded banking apps 2019

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The Easy Banking App from BNP Paribas Fortis was the only online banking app in Belgium that reached more than one million downloads between 2016 and 2019. This estimate is possible thanks to figures provided by Airnow PLC. The download rate from BNP Paribas Fortis' app was significantly higher than that of other banks. ING Belgium's mobile solution, for example, reached less than half a million downloads. BNP Paribas Fortis, ING Belgium, and KBC, however, all achieved more downloads than other banks. This should not come as a surprise, as these banks are the biggest in the country. Belfius, another large bank in Belgium, is not on this list due to technical difficulties.

How big is online banking in Belgium?

Belgian sources do not mention the number of users of online banking, but instead talk about the number of subscriptions. In 2018, there were roughly 13 million online banking subscriptions in Belgium, the highest number recorded since 2006. This figure refers to the overall use of banking through the Internet (in Flemish Dutch referred to as abonnementen internetbankieren, in French d'abonnements à la banque par internet), meaning it includes both desktop and mobile use. Mobile banking subscriptions (in Flemish Dutch: abonnementen mobiel bankieren, in French: d'abonnements à la banque mobile) also grew in recent years, reaching approximately seven million in 2018.

Belgium’s large offline banking component

With nearly 35 bank branches per 100,000 adults in 2017, Belgium had one of the highest bank office densities in Europe. This because many banking offices in Belgium are managed by entrepreneurs who are not directly on the payroll of the bank itself. There were over 5,000 bank branches in Belgium in 2018, with around 400 in the Brussels-Capital Region, nearly 1,300 in Wallonia, and roughly 3,500 in Flanders. The increasing popularity of online banking has led to a decrease in these numbers, much like in other European countries, albeit at a slower rate.

Total downloads of selected banking apps in Belgium from 2015 to 2019

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Release date

January 2020

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Region

Belgium

Survey time period

1 January, 2015 to 31 December, 2019

Supplementary notes

The numbers provided come from an app tracker, with numbers originally being supplied on a monthly basis. The annual numbers shown here are calculated: the downloads in each month of the years have been added together.

There are no rankings that show all online banking apps. The source, for example, only provides individual data per app. The nine here have been picked due to their media presence and overall market share in the country.

No numbers were provided for Belfius Mobile from Belfius Bank, one of Belgium's biggest banks, due to technical reasons. The source did not explain why these issues existed.

The source does not mention whether this concerns "first-time" downloads, or whether users deleted an app and downloaded it again.

All numbers include use on iPhone, iPad and Android devices (smartphone and tablets). The numbers were originally split between iOS and Android, but have been added together for clarity.