In February we posted that CIBC became the first Canadian bank to deliver online banking for the iPhone and iPod. Well TD Bank has just released their mobile banking platform for the iPhone and iPod and has provided a host of features including;

• the ability to login to TD Canada Trust banking to view account balances and recent activity, view and pay bills, and securely transfer funds between eligible accounts;

• small business customers have the ability to access their TD Canada Trust Small Business Banking accounts to transfer funds between accounts, pay bills, and review account balances and activities on-the-move;

• a locator to find the closest TD branch or ATM (useful for avoiding those extra service fees!)

• easy connection to:
- EasyLine telephone banking for general inquiries;
- TD Waterhouse agents to open accounts, get market quotes, and to place trades in English, French, Cantonese and Mandarin
- TD Insurance specialized agents for instant quoting on home, auto, life and health insurance or advice on how to file claims: and

• an accident toolkit from TD Insurance with information on what to do in case of an auto accident and an accident notepad to record details of the accident for an auto insurance claim.

Despite a fair amount of negative comments on the iTunes App. Store about the use of images within the app., (ie. limited screen real estate shouldn't be taken-up with life style images), I found that once I entered the accounts portion of the app. the interface was clean and easily navigated.

All of the features besides the basic banking ones are nice to have but don’t really provide a great deal of value. It’s nice that I can call and get an insurance quote by entering the application and clicking on a button but this is really a onetime need. I’m not purchasing car, auto or life insurance so frequently that I need one-touch access within my iPhone.

Again the TD Waterhouse one-touch call feature to open an account is not an everyday need but might be helpful. As this is the only function under the TD Waterhouse menu it would have been more effective to put the icon on the homepage of the app. and call the users attention to it each time the app. opened.

Three other features that would be handy:
• one-touch access to a general help line. Rather than having specific phone buttons to opening an account or get a insurance quote, include a button on the homepage for general inquires.
• ability to send an email directly from the iPhone or iPod. This appears to be a huge oversight when rolling out a solution for this platform.
• a feed from @Ask_TDBank’s Twitter account. Not all user swould find it helpful or interesting but it would provide a sense of credibility that TD understands and is a leader in online banking as well as promoting the Twitter communication channel.

Have you used the TD Banking iPhone/iPod app? How useful have you found it? If you haven’t used it will you download and it?