KBC banking app once again named best in the world

The mobile banking app of KBC has been named best in the world for the second year in a row, De Standaard writes on Wednesday. French consultancy firm Sia Partners chose the Belgian bank's app among 136 apps from 22 countries, which were evaluated against more than 100 criteria.

Sia Partners has analysed banking apps for the eighth time, assessing their reliability, user-friendliness, and security. This year, slightly more weight was given to ease of use, while functionality was rated somewhat lower.

“As banks keep adding new features, user-friendliness is at risk of suffering. That’s why we adjusted the methodology,” Stijn Van den Broeck, senior consultant at Sia Partners, told De Standaard.

Based on this methodology, two Belgian banks ended in the top 10 of this year's ranking. KBC took first place for the second time in a row, and the state-owned Belfius came in sixth, two places higher than in 2024. ​ ING fell just short of the top 20, while BNP Paribas Fortis ended in 33rd place.

AI focus

Artificial intelligence has also been factored into the ranking for the first time. AI is increasingly being used to suggest financial actions based on customer profiles, adjust upcoming payments, or detect unusual activity. KBC’s recently signed a deal with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, while Belfius partnered with French AI company Mistral.

But KBC remains far ahead in Sia Partners' ranking thanks to its breadth of services. Its app can handle medical prescriptions for pharmacies, manage tax documents, and includes telecom, housing and energy services, health information and administrative tools.

Other Belgian banks remain at the bottom of the international ranking, including Crelan, MeDirect, Keytrade Bank, and Deutsche Bank. For some banks, the gap with KBC is becoming so wide that catching up may no longer be realistic.

^{© BELGA PHOTO VIRGINIE LEFOUR}