Suncorp is planning to release its first mobile banking applications, designed specifically to run on iPhones and Android smartphones, by the end of the month.According to Suncorp's head of online banking, Simon Clarke, the bank's previous mobile systems were "smoke and mirrors… just a website that pretends to be an app."He acknowledged that the bank was "a bit late to the game with native apps", but claimed that as a result it had been able to compare its apps with other banks' apps in refining their final design. The apps went out for final testing, with 360 Suncorp staff, last week.Clarke said the bank planned to provide the app to Apple later this month and is hopeful that it will be approved and released to the App Store in time for Christmas.Speaking at FST Media's Future of Banking conference in Sydney last week, Clarke said the target market for the new application was 35-49 year old customers, rather than the youth market. He said the team of developers that had been working on the project for the last nine months had brought in their own mothers to test the usability of the application. Fathers, it seems, were not consulted.The new app has been designed to be particularly secure, he claimed. It requires two-factor authentication, which involves registering the mobile device with Suncorp so its location can be checked ahead of any transactions being made. This seems a little clunky compared with other banking apps and will require users to grant Suncorp geo-location permission. Security, however, is a key priority. Clarke said the mobile app was "by far the most secure application we have ever built."