Firethorn and Fifth-Third Processing

Firethorn Holdings has announced that "it has entered into an agreement with Fifth Third Processing Solutions to bring mobile banking services to its 2,880 financial institutions. As part of the relationship, Fifth Third Processing Solutions will offer Firethorn's products to its processing financial institution clients, leveraging existing integration and connectivity to deploy Firethorn's mobile application. Fifth Third Processing Solutions plans to make the service available to its financial institutions before the end of the year. Continue Reading >>

iPhone Mobile Banking Application - IBC Bank/mFoundry

Late last week I heard that IBC Bank/mFoundry had launched a new mobile banking application through the iPhone App Store. I'm going to receive a demo on Tuesday, but here are a few screen-prints and a couple of the customer reviews.





"Best Banking App to Date... 5 Stars (by Clown Price)
This app rocks, much smoother than just a faceplate on a mobile web experience. These guys obviously care about providing their customers with a solid product."

"Amazing, incredible app 5 Stars (by JSpurr)
Note to other banks: make an app like this if you want to keep customers happy. Absolutely brilliant!"

Mobile Banking Updates - Sept 28

The last 7 days have been very active in the mobile banking arena. Here's a summary:

Lloyds TSB mobile banking goes beyond text
"Lloyds TSB has added a slew of features to its mobile banking service. From mid-October, Lloyds customers will be able to view their banking details, move money around their own accounts and receive text message alerts on their phone."

Google Android: Can it take on the iPhone?
"How significant is the launch of Google's new mobile phone? And does it have enough to take on the iPhone, asks Claudine Beaumont"

Paying for your eBay items with PayPal just got easier
"It's finally happened! You can now pay for all your eBay items with PayPal via your mobile anywhere, anytime*."

CGAP at the Clinton Global Initiative’s Mobile Banking Call to Action
"Today, CGAP is announcing a new effort around mobile banking to identify, fund, research and champion technology enabled banking services for 25 million people in 20 countries. CGAP CEO Elizabeth Littlefield will announce the plan at the Clinton Global Initiative’s “Mobile Banking Call to Action.”

ClairMail to Power Mobile Banking for Texas-based City Bank
"ClairMail has announced that City Bank, a locally owned and operated community bank in Texas, has selected ClairMail to power its new mobile banking offering."

Visa Expands Mobile Banking Trials to Nokia, Android
"Visa today announced a variety of mobile banking tests for U.S. customers. The tests focus on mobile payments and money transfer, which are already available in many other countries, particularly in Eastern Asia."

Sprint offers mobile banking application
"Sprint Nextel announced Thursday a new downloadable application that will let its subscribers bank and pay bills from their cell phones. The new application called MyMoneyManager will provide online banking access to accounts with BB&T, Citibank, IBC Bank and PNC Bank. Subscribers with accounts at these banks will be able to check balances, pay bills, and find nearby branches with ATMs using the application on their phone. Sprint subscribers must have a Web-enabled phone and a wireless data plan to access the service."

First Android Device on the Market 9/23?

Earlier today Andrew Hickey published an article titled, "Wait A Generation Before Buying Google Android Device," and I was amazed to learn that the first Android device goes on sale in less than 24 hours and there has been no hype, no marketing, and no buzz.

Mobile Banking Updates - Sept 21

The Finance 2.0 Summit - Learn More >>

Channeling the convergence of social media and finance: Practical marketing strategies to connect with your customer

January 26th - 27th, 2009
The Harvard Club, NYC

Users Like Contactless Payments & Would Switch Carriers to Pay, Says Smart Card Alliance
"Consumers are even ready to switch carriers to get what they want, with 47 percent of contactless users saying that they would switch mobile carriers to gain mobile payments."

University of California Gets $1.7M From Gates Foundation
"The University of California, Irvine received a $1.7 million donation from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create an institute focused on the growing use of cell phone technology in providing banking and financial services to people in developing countries."

SMobile - Secure Mobile Banking

I received a press release today that SMobile has announced, "the launch of its Secure Mobile Banking and Trading (SMBT) endpoint security solution for financial institutions and consumers." Continue Reading >>


Now, I'm not familiar with the company or product, but I did a little research and it turns out that they're located Columbus, OH. Ironically, I'm headed to Columbus on Thursday so I'll try to learn a little more, but here's the executive summary in the meantime.

Specs: Firewall, Anti-Virus, Anti-Spam
Consumer Price - $29.99
Product Information

Additionally, here are a few articles that I have previously written on the topic of security:
Mobile Banking & Security - 7/2/07
Mobile Banking Security and AntiVirus Protection - 9/6/07

Mobile Banking Updates - Sept 14

Bancorp Now Issuer for Obopay Prepaid
"Obopay said Wednesday that Bancorp Inc. of Wilmington, Del., has started issuing prepaid debit cards are that linked to its mobile payment accounts."

Mobile payments misunderstood in U.S.
"The media are responsible, in part, for the lack of greater adoption of mobile payment systems in the United States, a panel of payment leaders said here Thursday at the fall 2008 CTIA."

Sun White Paper: The Road to Mobile Banking
"The Sun white paper The Road to Mobile Banking explains how the climate has changed to make mobile banking seem a viable option for financial services. For example, with a new generation of customers given to using their cell phones for just about everything, enlisting them as banking customers seems entirely logical."

US Financial Services Providers Adopting Mobile SMS
"Clickatell has announced that 'top US financial institutions and technology providers who serve the FI market including Visa, S1 Postilion, and RSA Data Security are trusting Clickatell to provide actionable financial alerts and notifications to millions of cell phones via SMS.'"

mFoundry iPhone Mobile Banking Solution

Today, mFoundry announced the launch of their iPhone mobile banking solution. Plus, don't forget that on June 30th Bank of America made a strategic investment in mFoundry. This will be a nice fit with the iPhone representing 25% of Bank of America's mobile banking user base. Learn More >>

Mobile Text Banking - 5 Things You May Not Know

Here are 5 things you may or may not know about a mobile text banking application.

1) Short codes are not purchased. They are leased from the Common Short Code Administration (CSCA). "Selected" codes cost $12,000/year. "Random" codes cost $6,000/year.

2) Have you ever wondered why many banks do not support transfers via text banking? The answer: Not all carriers will approve/support the functionality.

3) Which words/terms must you accept as a clients request to "unsubscribe?"
* Cancel, Cancel All, Stop, Stop All, Quit, Quit All, Unsubscribe, Unsubscribe All, End, End All

4) Whether running in-house or through a vendor you must utilize an aggregator. A few of the top players (in alphabetical order) are: Clickatell, mBlox, Sybase, and Verisign.

5) The carriers insist that you follow the MMA "Consumer Best Practices." Plus, be sure to ask your aggregator/vendor for a copy of the supplemental requirements provided by the carriers.

New Mobile Banking Research from Fiserv

To access the full mobile banking presentation from Fiserv/Checkfree click here.

Fiserv and M-Com Team Up

Steve Bills of the American Banker announced this morning that Fiserv and M-Com have formed a partnership to offer mobile banking to 200 of the largest financial institutions in the nation. This is the now the second major deal for M-Com which is head quartered in New Zealand. Earlier this year Washington Mutual launched an SMS banking solution powered by the M-Com platform. According to the story the joint venture will offer a 3 channel solution consisting of browser, SMS, and downloadable. Read the full story here.

Metavante (Monitise) Signs eCom

"Metavante, a leading provider of banking and payments technology, today announced Corporate Network eCom, LLC (eCom) has named Metavante Corporation its provider of mobile banking and payments solutions and will resell Metavante Mobile Financial Services, powered by Monitise Americas. eCom, a majority-owned subsidiary of U.S. Central, provides electronic financial services to the Corporate Credit Union Network, which in turn serves the nation’s nearly 8,400 consumer credit unions. Monitise Americas is the mobile banking and payments joint-venture between Metavante Corporation and Monitise plc, the global leader in the provision of mobile banking services." Continue Reading >>

Mobile Banking Updates - Sept 7

Wells Fargo Enhances CEO Mobile Service for Corporate Customers

"Wells Fargo is announcing enhancements to its CEO Mobile service, a browser-based mobile banking service for its corporate banking customers that remains unique among major financial institutions in the US. Users of CEO Mobile can now initiate and approve federal tax wires and see which self administration dual control items they can act on from their mobile devices." Learn More >>


UW Credit Union offers mobile banking
"The UW Credit Union has a new mobile banking service that is targeted at on-the-move students. More than 4,000 members statewide have taken advantage of the new cellular banking tool." Learn More >>

Mobile Banking News & Research - Form Your Own Opinion

On a weekly basis we are inundated with new mobile banking research, data, facts and figures. Some of the headlines are positive and some are negative, but I encourage you to interpret the data for yourself.

Case in point -

Yesterday I received a single Google Alert that contained two articles.

Article 1 - Commercial NFC rollouts 'years away'

Article 2 - UK consumers want NFC on their mobiles

Ordinarily this wouldn't strike me as odd...again I'm used to the contradictory headlines. However, this situation was unique for two reasons:

1) The messages arrived together on the same alert

2) When I began reading the articles I also discovered that they quoted the same executive, speaking about the same data from the same trial.

For more on interpreting data see my post from 2007 on NetBanker titled Analyzing Mobile Banking Research

NOW - Discussions through BAMA

Building a mobile banking solution? Evaluating mobile payment options?

BAMA members - LinkedIn has now added "Discussion" functionality to their Group Service. The upgrade was added on Friday of last week and allows us to conduct private "member only" discussions.

This is an invaluable resource if you have questions, challenges, or just need honest feedback from another banker.

Mobile Banking News 9/1/08

Tech advances making mobile banking attractive prospect
"In an effort to keep up with technology – and competitors – Huntington Bancshares Inc. has rolled out a system that lets customers bank on the move. The mobile banking initiative allows customers to check balances, review transactions and pay bills using a cell phone or personal digital assistant."

Mobile Messaging Numbers Continue to Skyrocket, VeriSign Reports
"VeriSign, Inc. the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world, announced today another record-breaking quarter for mobile messaging, based on the latest quarterly index of mobile messaging statistics compiled by VeriSign's Messaging and Mobile Media division."

Mississippi Rising
"Since his days as a college-age, back-office worker, Michael Lindsey has turned heads with his technology acumen. In recent years he built a national profile, championing mobile services and payments as the future of relationship banking."

Mobile Marketing

Here are a few articles related to the topic of mobile marketing:

Bank of America campaign targets students for mobile banking
"Bank of America has introduced a financial awareness campaign designed to educate students to take control of their finances and discover mobile banking in this upcoming academic year."

Mobile banking, payments, marketing…what to do first?
"But there are lots of ways to play in the mobile arena, even without spending a truckload of precious assets. For example, mobile alerts and mobile marketing represent two relatively simple points of entry that should meet with real adoption and customer utility."

Google Banking On Mobile Ads
"Google Chief Exec Eric Schmidt has been talking about the future of the internet and his belief that mobile adverts are the honey pot of the future. "

Visa, Chase Kick-Off Mobile Offers Pilot
"Visa (NYSE:V) together with Chase (NYSE:JPM) today announces a consumer pilot that delivers merchant offers directly to the mobile devices of Chase credit and debit cardholders in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The offers – from merchant discounts to specials – are tailored to match the personal interests selected by Chase cardholders and will be redeemable at the point of sale or the web site of more than 50 participating merchants."