Mobile Banking Updates - Oct 30

Motorola's Razr Rules the Mobile Web
"Apple's iPhone is currently the biggest of big deals. The No. 1 phone, right? Think again. Know which well-known phone outsells the iPhone in the U.S.? I'll give you a big hint: This "other" phone has been around for some time, and more people use it to access the mobile Web than any other handset around. Give up? Say hello again to Motorola's Razr phone."

MasterCard Mobile Provides Over-the-Air Provisioning for Mobile
"MasterCard has announced the launch of a MasterCard Over-the-Air Provisioning Service, calling it "the first program of its kind that enables issuers to perform over-the-air personalization of their cardholders' mobile devices in an easy, one-step process."

Mobile Banking Developer Gets Development Funding
"­PlaNet Finance has received a US$1.7 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support a Mobile Banking Project to provide microfinance clients with enhanced access to banking services. The project was co-developed with mobile operator, Orange."

Prepaid Will Rely On Mobile Banking For Info
"Person-to-person funds transfers and mobile payments at the point of sale are still a ways off in the United States. But mobile banking has a role to play for consumers, according to speakers at SourceMedia’s ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum in Chandler, Ariz. (SourceMedia publishes Prepaid Trends.)"

SK Telecom's Mobile Finance Technology Goes Global
"SK Telecom has launched the first commercial mobile financial services with Citibank Hong Kong through Mobile Money Ventures, its joint venture with Citi. Buoyed by the growing market of mobile bankers' support from telco operators and handset manufacturers, the company expects its mobile finance technology to take off in the global market."

City Bank Texas - Mobile Banking

I learned last week that City Bank Texas has launched a two-channel mobile solution (text and browser). Additionally they've created a nice micro-site including a tool with three target personas:
* Mike - Active Retiree
* Erin - College Student
* David - Business Owner

To learn more visit their website at citybankonline.com or the mobile banking specific microsite at citybankmobile.com

Also, be sure to check out their two television spots >>

MI Bank Mobile Banking and FREE Phone

M&I Bank has launched their mobile solution and is offering a FREE phone. Plus, they offer the ability to make expedited payments via mobile. Learn More >>

Regions Mobile Banking - FREE Phone

Over the last 18 months there have been a number of strong marketing campaigns promoting mobile banking, but this one is NEW!

To help launch their mobile banking solution Regions is giving away 25,000 free "high-end" phones (i.e. Blackberry Pearl, LG Shine, or LG enV). Learn More >>

At first I was blown away (and don't get me wrong I'm still impressed) but after a little research I did discover that E-Trade is promoting a similar offer. Learn More >>



In a related story...
BlackBerry Targets iPhone, Android With Application Store
"The Apple iPhone did it with the AppStore. And Google Android did it with the Android Market for the T-Mobile G1. Now BlackBerry is following suit launching an application store of its own to let users find and download applications to their smart phones."

Mobile Banking from eBank

E-Bank Japan Sets Mobile Banking Example
"Imagine you are a bank with no branches or ATMs, almost three million customers and only 195 employees in total. This is e-bank Japan, which provides 24-hour real-time electronic services. With a corporate vision that mobile computing can give customers their own personal branch in the future it is an example of a company that has totally automated its business using the latest technology.

The combined attractions of reduced costs and increasing customer demand could drive mobile banking adoption in here post credit crunch." Continue Reading >>

Verizon - To Fee or Not to Fee

Verizon Wireless Plans to Charge Companies Sending Text Messages
"Verizon Wireless this week told companies that send out text messages that starting Nov. 1 it will impose a fee of 3 cents for each message it delivers to the phones of its subscribers. The plan prompted waves of protest among many of the companies that use text messages, and Verizon has backed off the details."

Verizon denies text fee hike imminent
"Verizon Wireless is refuting reports it will introduce a 3-cent fee for all mobile-terminated messages delivered across its network."

Mobile Banking Updates - Oct 14

Citi and Obopay roll out P2P m-payments service nationwide
"Citi and Obopay have launched a US-wide person-to-person (P2P) mobile payments pilot for the bank's customers. The mobile payment service will be offered to all Citibank customers in the US, with a focus on Boston, Chicago, Maryland, Philadelphia and New Jersey."

Lloyds TSB Launches Mobile Banking Enhancements
"Lloyds TSB says it has "become the first bank in the UK to offer a range of banking services allowing customers to monitor and manage their money on a mobile phone. The new Lloyds TSB Mobile Services are unique in giving customers the ability to move money instantly between accounts through a Mobile Banking application and receive text messages about their finances."

With Digipass for Mobile VASCO Data Security Expands Its Authentication Software Offering
"The new version of Digipass for Mobile comes with a dedicated Software Development Kit (SDK) to enable the transparent embedding of Digipass for Mobile functionality in e-banking and m-banking applications"

More than half of retailers considering mobile contactless payments
"Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company, surveyed 180 companies to outline the implications and trends related to proximity mobile payments. Retail, hospitality, and transit companies are indicating high levels of awareness for mobile payments and NFC acceptance."

Mobile Banking Updates - Oct 7

It has been a busy couple of days in the world of mobile banking...here are the headlines!

Visa Questions Phones as Payment Tools
"Mobile phones are more useful for providing details about payments than for initiating them at the point of sale, according to Visa Inc."

INSIDE Debuts MicroPass Contactless Stickers
"INSIDE Contactless, a leading provider of advanced, open-standard contactless chip technologies, today announced that samples of the first MicroPass® contactless prelam for use in mobile handset stickers for secure payments are now available for card manufacturers."

Maximizing Efficiency in Payments - Mobile Banking
Mustafa Patni of WaMu will be discussing, "The NACHA Operating Rules to accommodate payments that originate from the mobile channel and to identify any unique risk considerations, including authorization and authentication, to enable efficient and effective adoption in the ACH Network."

Awareness and Use of Mobile Banking Low, But Poised to Grow
"The use of cell phones to conduct banking activities such as balance inquiries, bill payment and funds transfers is still a relatively new capability for many banks. Not surprisingly, then, awareness and usage of mobile banking services are just beginning to build among banking customers."

Venture to Provide Mobile Transfers
"Monitise Americas, a joint venture of Monitise PLC and Metavante Technologies Inc., plans to start offering person-to-person transfer services through mobile phones next quarter."

Sybase 365 Exposes Top Myths Surrounding Mobile Banking
"Sybase 365, the global leader in mobile messaging services, exposed several myths surrounding mobile banking. The results of a recent survey (“Mobile Banking: The Second Wave. Global Mobile Banking Survey 2008”) commissioned by Sybase 365 showed that some 34% of banks offer mobile services to customers and an additional 32% plan to offer mobile services in the next 12-24 months."

Mobile Marketing from ChaCha

It's likely that you're familiar with the concept of mobile marketing, but chances are you're not familiar with ChaCha's operating model.

ChaCha is an Indianapolis firm that was launched in January of this year by Scott Jones. A little history on Scott..."At age 25, Scott invented the massively scalable, easy-to-use voicemail system that has been used by over a billion people around the world."

How Does ChaCha Work?
"ChaCha is conversational, fun, and easy to use. Simply ask your question like you are talking to a smart friend and ChaCha’s advanced technology instantly routes it to the most knowledgeable person on that topic in our Guide community. Your answer is then returned to your phone as a text message within a few minutes."

Example:

Mobile Banking from Fifth-Third

There's no mention of the product on their website, but I just discovered that Fifth-Third bank now has a browser-based mobile banking site located at: www.53.com/mobile

Mobile Banking Updates - Oct 2

iPhone heading to EVDO/Verizon for 2009?
"According to him, Apple will be announcing iPhones for Verizon Wireless in 2009, perhaps as early Macworld 2009. Negotiations between Apple and Verizon are ongoing but they expect to hammer out agreements by the end of the year."

FSTC completes first phase of m-payments project
"The group is examining various technology models supporting mobile payments today and expects to make recommendations that will facilitate an interoperable mobile payments infrastructure in the near future."

Security, Compliance Top Concerns in Bank Survey
"Community bankers are spending more than ever on technology, according to survey published Wednesday, and their biggest concerns are data security and compliance."

Mitek intros Mobile Deposit Application for Apple iPhone
"The Mobile Deposit iPhone application is available to financial
institutions or mobile banking software vendors looking to add Remote
Deposit Capture (RDC) to their mobile banking platform."

ATMIA publishes mobile banking best practices
"The ATM Industry Association has launched Best Practices for Mobile Device Banking Security."