Mobile Payments Research

There are two new research reports on the market covering the topic of mobile payments.



The report from the Aite Group is titled “Contactless Payments and NFC in the United States: Beyond Science Fiction.” Included in the description of the report is the following quote: "It is widely accepted that a strategy of proliferation, even at a loss, is key to gaining traction for contactless payments," says Nick Holland, senior analyst with Aite Group and author of this report. "A solution would be for card networks and issuers to provide a contactless-specific category of interchange and fees for merchants. Once uptake levels have reached critical mass and contactless payments are entrenched, fee structure can be altered to afford networks and issuers greater opportunity for revenue generation." Read the full press release >>


The second report is from InStat and is titled “Cellphone Banking First Step toward Mobile Wallets in the U.S.” The InStat press release states that, “There is evidence that the U.S. market may overcome a crucial issue—technology incompatibility—and make progress during 2008 toward contactless payments using cellphones,” says David Chamberlain, In-Stat analyst. “Companies in several different sectors all ultimately want to deploy near field communications (NFC), the key enabling technology, into handsets as well as in merchant payment terminals.” Read the full press release >>

Mobile Banking Security

If you're interested in learning more about mobile banking security be sure to read my new article on NetBanker.com.

Consumer Interest in Mobile Commerce Extends Beyond Banking

Earlier today Dove Consulting published research supporting that, "consumers across the United States are ready to adopt a broad set of mobile commerce applications...when asked which of these mobile applications they were most excited about using, nearly two-thirds of study participants chose mobile banking and 30 percent chose mobile payment at the point-of-sale." Click to read the full article >>

Denise Senecal - Demographics Matter to Mobile Banking Strategies

Today I found an article written by Denise Senecal (Research Manager - Callahan & Associates) titled "Demographics Matter to Mobile Banking Strategies."

Ms. Denecal writes, "The online survey of more than 11,000 credit union members examined needs and preferences among online members—the segment of your membership most likely to be the early adopters of mobile banking technology."

The article continues to cover topics including:
* Comfort with Mobile Features Varies with Age
* Understand Your Membership's Demographic Profile
* Consider Your Target Segments

Click here to read the full article >>

Mobile Banking Updates

Obopay application coming to BlackBerry later this month

Evolution of Mobile Banking - New Javelin Report

SA 'mobile wallet' goes global - Fundamo

Sybase 365 Extends End-to-End Mobile Banking and Payments Solution for Banks

Irish company launches mobile banking, ATM solution - Kinzna

ClairMail to Power Mobile Banking and Payments for Intercredit Bank

Bank of America - Macworld 2008

In case you haven't heard, last week Steve Jobs gave Bank of America's mobile banking application a huge plug during his keynote speech. Click here to view the presentation on apple.com and fast forward to the 17:28 mark for the B of A mention.

WOW - you can not buy exposure like this!!!!

Mobile Commerce with paybox

A while back I received an email from Eckhard Ortwein (CEO of paybox) introducing his product and company.

"Founded in 1999, paybox was the first to launch mass-marketable mobile payment solutions in five European markets. Recognised for having the broadest mobile Commerce offering worldwide, paybox has been chosen by leading companies such as: Vodafone and o2 in Germany, mobilkom and ONE in Austria, and Mastercard Int’l.

Used by over five million end users and over 15,000 merchants, paybox enterprise solutions are deployed across Europe, North and South America, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia."

However, what really caught my attention was a presentation that he forwarded titled "Mobilising Commerce with paybox." Over the years I've seen a tremendous number of vendor presentations, so it has become fairly easy to discern "insight" from "fluff" and this one was well written.

Specifically, as a number crunching banker, I was impressed with case study including line item detail for: revenue per transaction, processing cost, authorization cost, acquisition cost, remittance commission, float...and they even included net present values. What I'm attempting to convey is that I think they really know their stuff. Not many vendors are comfortable enough with banking and financial analysis to offer this type of detail during an initial meeting.

I know that without the meat of the presentation this article looses a little punch, but I don't have authorization to broadcast the data. So, if you're looking around I'd include paybox in my consideration set. Visit their site by clicking here.

Mobile Banking CEO - Lisa Stanton (Monitise)

Last week was a very big week for Lisa Stanton and the Monitise team.

On January 7th Maria Bruno-Britz of Bank Systems & Technology reported "Stanton Named CEO Monitise Americas."

Then on January 9th CNNMoney.com announced, "Financial Institutions Choose Monitise Americas Mobile Financial Services Offered by NYCE Payments Network."

The CNN site reported, "that NYCE Payments Network has signed agreements with ten new financial institutions to provide mobile financial services powered by Monitise Americas to their customers and members. NYCE Payments Network, LLC, is a leading U.S. debit card payments network and a division of Metavante , a leading provider of banking and payments technology." Read full article >>

So, when I called to congratulate Lisa on the great news I couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask a few questions. Specifically, I asked Lisa to give me the "elevator pitch" on Monitise...

Lisa Stanton - CEO Monitise Americas
There are 4 key advantages to working with Monitise:
1) Any client with an ATM or Debit card is eligible to enroll
2) There is little to no integration. Monitise needs a bin range, link, and logo
3) Monitise Americas is backed by Metavante and Monitise PLC
4) Financial institutions only pay for enrolled users. No start up or integration expenses.

Mobile Banking from Capital One - mShift

I am pleased to have the opportunity to share some very big news that surprisingly did not make the mainstream media.

On Friday, Capital One launched their mShift powered mobile banking solution.

Below I have included the full press release and two additional screen shots, but for a number of reasons this story is much more than just another headline.

First, this announcement propels mShift to the "Elite Provider" status. Now, some will argue they've been a top-tier provider for sometime since they have quietly amassed 62 clients. However, in the minds of many you need at least one nationally recognized mega-bank. For mShift that client is Capital One - they have now arrived.

Next, the Capital One product brings to market a handful of components that are new to the mobile banking offer. If you read the copy in the first image below you will see that Capital one is offering a $50 bill pay guarantee. Then, please refer to the second image below and notice that Capital One is also offering Bank-to-Bank money transfers. For security purposes they must be accounts that have existing linkages, but this is a very powerful feature for a mobile banking product.

Finally, I will offer that this further validates the browser-based solution as a significant contender in the mobile banking space. Critics will scoff at the notion, but the fact is that many institutions are launching browser solutions because they are secure, convenient, and provide a familiar banking experience.




Capital One Selects MShift Mobile Banking Platform.

Santa Clara, CA. January 11th, 2008. MShift announces that Capital One has chosen its Mobile Banking platform. Capital One joins more than 60 US financial institutions who have selected MShift Inc. to provide a customized Mobile Banking Solution.

MShift is the leading provider of Mobile Banking in the US, providing secure mobile solutions in the financial and retail markets since 1999. MShift currently powers over 80% of the mobile banking solutions deployed in the US today.

The MShift Mobile Banking solutions work with all types of mobile devices, across all carriers. Account access is very secure, as all account information data is encrypted with a minimum of 128 bits TLS, and no user data is stored on the mobile device.

"We are pleased to partner with Capital One in this venture,” says Awele Ndili, President and CEO of MShift. “Mobile Banking has become a key differentiator for financial institutions. Capital One continues to demonstrate innovation and leadership by choosing to offer mobile banking to their 50 million customers in the Americas.

About MShift

MShift®, Inc. is the leading provider of Mobile Banking solutions. The MShift® Mobile Banking Solutions offer the widest array of features, including Bill Payment, Presentment, Transfers, Account Summaries, History, ATM locators, and much more. MShift Mobile Banking can be accessed from all carriers and device types, including cell phones, iPhone, Blackberry, Palm® and Pocket-PC PDAs, pagers, WAP, SMS, and voice devices. MShift also provides the only available Facebook Banking application – online banking directly tied into the Facebook environment. MShift’s Facebook banking application won the Online Banking Report’s “Best of the Web” award for 2007.

MShift (www.mshift.com) is headquartered in San Jose, California and can be reached via (408)437-2740 or via email at info@mshift.com.

BAMA - Mobile Banking Newsletter is Live!

I'm proud to announce that the very first BAMA email newsletter is now LIVE! If you're not familiar with this publication please read this post. In short, BAMA is dedicated to ensuring the success of mobile banking and mobile payments. If you have not yet signed up I'd encourage you to do so immediately. It's FREE to subscribe and only takes a second to enroll (see right margin).

To give you just a taste - the first issue covered recent headlines, security, marketing, and announced how vendors can be listed in the "Vendor Spotlight" component of future issues.

Mobile Banking Announcement - PSCU

St. Petersburg, FL, January 8, 2008 – PSCU Financial Services, the nation’s largest credit union service organization (CUSO), announced today that it is adopting mFoundry’s award-winning mobile financial platform to deliver mobile banking and payment services to credit unions and their membership. This service is expected to be available in the second quarter of 2008. Click to read the full story >>

Mobile Banking Announcement - NJCB

North Jersey Community Bank (NJCB), the fastest growing bank in New Jersey, today announced that it will introduce mobile banking to its customers in the first quarter of 2008...The new mobile financial services, provided to NJCB by Monitise Americas, will enable customers to check their available balances and transfer funds internally. Additional services will become available throughout 2008. Click to read the full story >>

Mobile Banking Announcement - Clairmail

ClairMail, Inc., the leader in 2-way mobile phone-based customer interaction, today introduced the ClairMail Event Engine, which empowers the ClairMail System to generate and send 2-way actionable alerts for mobile banking and payments. The robust addition to the ClairMail System enables financial institution customers for the first time to easily define and conveniently receive real-time 2-way mobile alerts for improved account management, heightened fraud prevention and innovative mobile payments. Click to read the full story >>

Mobile Banking Alliance

I’d like to take just a minute to thank you for your loyalty in 2007. With your help and word-of-mouth we were able to take this blog from relative obscurity in June to international recognition in December. To continue that success...

Today, I am proud to announce the launch of two new initiatives under the name “BAMA” which is an acronym for (Bankers Alliance for the Mobile Arena).

1) BAMA Email Newsletter
Enrolling for the email newsletter is FREE. Plus, if you signup today you will also receive a mobile banking expense calculator and a PDF containing copies of my most popular articles. To subscribe for the BAMA email newsletter simply provide your name and email address in boxes located along the right margin. Don’t wait - enroll now!

2) BAMA Group
Membership in the BAMA Group (hosted by Google Groups) is restricted to executives from banks, credit unions, and financial service companies. The purpose of the group will be to facilitate the growth, development and success of mobile banking and mobile payments.

The benefits of membership are:
* Answers, solutions, and insights provided through the BAMA discussion threads
* Networking opportunities at the annual BAMA Summit
* Contact information for BAMA members

To apply for membership in the BAMA Group:
1) Simply click here
2) Login with your Google user id and password
3) Enter your name, employer’s name and click on “apply for membership”

Again, I’d just like to say - thank you. With your continued support we will make 2008 a year of substantial growth for mobile financial services.

Sincerely - Brandon McGee

Marketing the Mobile Banking Service

Over the last year I've seen some terrific marketing campaigns for the mobile banking product. However, if the key is location, location, location...then I must nominate this ad from the Bank of Stockton for the "Most Prominently Displayed" marketing award.

Mobile Banking Experiencing Increased Adoption

Just before the holiday season Nancy Feig published an article in Bank Systems & Technology titled Mobile Banking Experiencing Increased Adoption. The article is extremely well written and does a fantastic job of analyzing the mobile banking landscape. In fact, the article includes quotes from a number of individuals including representatives from financial institutions, research firms, and vendors:
Stessa Cohen (Gartner)
Catherine Graeber (Forrester)
Drew Sievers (mFoundry)
Tripp Rackley (Firethorn)
Doug Brown (Bank of America)
Debbie Cox (Irwin Union Bank)

Click here to read the full article.