"Brandon McGee, Industry Insider, Mobile Banking Guru...He is not only the real deal, a genuine industry insider, but also knows exactly what's on the minds of financial service pros as they contemplate the various mobile options." - Jim Bruene, Publisher & Founder, Online Financial Innovations

"Going Mobile. Local executive carves niche as national expert on fast-growing banking-industry technology trend" - Scott Olson, Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ)

"Brandon McGee, the industry's unofficial ambassador for mobile banking" 

Monday, May 26, 2008

Barclays Mobile Banking - Hello Money


The other day I received an email from my friend in South Africa - Christo Vrey (Managing Executive, Digital Channels - ABSA). He was writing to share the news that Barclays has launched a new mobile banking solution called Hello Money.

Click here to check out their microsite, but I'll tell you in advance that they've done a nice job of covering the key elements. There's a brief overview and then the client is quickly taken into the key features: Fast, Convenient, and Secure. Also take note that they have a very comprehensive demo including step by step instructions for all of the key functionality.


Additionally, they've done a nice job building a robust FAQ section. I myself am not as familiar with the USSD technology so I was able to learn...

"How different is it from the other technologies used like SMS, GPRS and application-based services?"

"USSD-based Hello Money is different as -
* It provides an interactive browsing experience
* It is available on all GSM handsets (even most of the legacy models)
* It has an in-built USSD encryption and 'no store just forward' facility for
performing secure transactions
* You need not remember any transaction message formats
* It works on roaming at no extra cost (no additional operator cost)
* Faster service, as the network latency is very low"

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hello, USSD is now used in many countries, but it was used first for financial purpose in Spain with "Mobipay" (http://www.mobipay.com), which is a mobile payment system with all the mobile operators and the majority of the Spanish banks.

Anonymous said...

Brandon, I am fairly certain that USSD must be supported by the carrier. I am not aware of any North American carrier that currently (or publicly) supports this protocol.

Abhishek said...

I saw the online demo of Barclays Hello Money. I should say I was quite impressed with its features and user friendly application. The fact that it works with USSD on any handsets might prove quite useful in India as there are large number of cell phone users with minimum feature handsets. The Hello Money will be quite popular in India.