[This is a guest blog by Alexander Causey]

In 2013 NatWest led the way. Last year Barclays overtook having introduced a range of new app functionality, including being the first in the UK to introduce a digital vault (Barclays Cloud It). And now in our latest report we found Lloyds Bank to have jumped ahead of them both.

Forrester’s 2015 UK Mobile Banking Functionality Benchmark was published yesterday and reveals our insights around the state of the UK mobile banking, based on reviews of Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Nationwide Building Society, and NatWest.

Lloyds Bank has pulled ahead of its peers with more extensive account management and transactional features. It remains the only bank in the UK which we reviewed that lets customers add a new payee directly in the app. If I’m out and about and need to pay back my friend for some tickets, I don’t want to have to wait until I get home to add a new payee through my online banking (yes, yes I know…we could use Paym to make a P2P payment but for the sake of this argument, let’s say these are very expensive tickets). I want to be able to add a new payee and send the money then and there – in my mobile moment.

Lloyds Bank is also making strides through its Everyday Offers. By partnering with Cardlytics, the Lloyds Bank app presents customers with relevant cash-back offers based on their past transaction history.

That’s not to say that the other banks are not doing great things. One of my favorite features is Nationwide’s Quick Balance, which lets customers view their account balance in just one click and without the need to login.

To find out what else impressed us this year you’ll have to read the report, which incidentally can be found here.

In the meantime, which features do you find most useful on your bank’s mobile app? Feel free to leave your comments in the section below.

Thanks!