Mobile Banking Updates - May 25

Is USAA the second largest in mobile banking?
"Last week, USAA released astounding figures on its mobile banking usage: The 10-month-old service is already used by 11.4% -- about 800,000 -- of its 7 million members, making USAA one of the largest mobile banking providers in the country"

Some thoughts on Mastercard's P2P payment platform
"MasterCard recently announced the launch of a mobile-based service for P2P transactions. This is a great idea and makes a lot of sense. The concept is that you register your MasterCard for the service."

Sybase Ranked Tops by ABI Research
"The latest Vendor Matrix released by ABI Research, ranked Sybase at the top, according to Sybase officials. Digby and JiGrahak Mobility Solutions claimed the second and third spots in the company’s new worldwide evaluation of mobile commerce vendors using technologies other than Near Field Communications."

Kenya to enact laws regulating mobile phone banking
"Kenya is introducing several laws to strengthen its financial sector as new products such as mobile phone banking fill the market in the wake of technological advances, its finance minister said on Monday. The east African nation of 36 million people has only 6.3 million traditional branch-held bank accounts, leaving a gap that is being filled by telecom operators with mobile phone money transfer services."

Barclays revamps m-banking service
"The banking information presented to customers through their mobile phone now fits easily on their browser making it quicker for customers to view their account balance, statements at a glance, make transfers between accounts and make payments outside of the bank. In addition, they can find branches and ATMs, get answers to banking questions, view product offers and get support through the online banking helpdesk."

America's Mobile Tipping Point by Jonathan Spalter

I just ran across a great article on The Huffington Post by Jonathan Spalter called "America's Mobile Tipping Point"

Check it out at http://tinyurl.com/qeyf6q

Mobile Banking - Wells Fargo - iPhone

Check out this story at PaymentNews about the new mobile banking iPhone app from Wells Fargo: http://tinyurl.com/o5rpzl

Mobile Banking Updates - May 19

Mobile banking uptake rises
"The uptake of mobile banking services is increasing as consumers seek to better monitor their finances, according to research. More than half (52 per cent) of 1,000 UK consumers polled by Monilink and The Future Foundation are checking their bank balances via their mobile phone more often – a usage increase of 10 per cent since October 2008."

Mobile banking: You’re either in, or you’re out (May 09)
"Despite numerous formats and options, it’s relatively easy to hop aboard the mobile banking bus. No time like the present. You’ll likely be forced to do it defensively anyway. For a variety of reasons—technical, demographic, economic—there is now a great deal of interest in, and growing usage of, mobile devices for banking. Most of that use is still informational, like balance checking."

PayPal Mobile Update
"Eric Duprat from PayPal’s mobile team with a quick update. It looks like Android users in the US love the new PayPal application that launched last week. It’s received 4 out of 5 stars and jumped to the top 20 of finance apps within just two days of its launch."

MasterCard Is Pushing Mobile Money
"MasterCard (MA) is promoting a tempting new offer: Instead of using checks or wire transfers to send money, U.S. customers can soon text the funds directly to another person through their cell phones. Dubbed MoneySend, the new service promises to 'make it faster, simpler, and more convenient for people to send money to each other using the MasterCard network,'"

Mobile Commercials

Here are two mobile commercials that I saw over the weekend.

Mobile Banking vs. Text Banking - Part II

Here's an interesting "tid-bit" for all of the mobile banking product managers. Last week I had an opportunity to review some marketing research from a Top 25 bank that offers both mobile banking and text banking and found something very interesting.

The clients using mobile (browser) banking are 38% more profitable than the bank's average client, and text banking clients are 13% more profitable than the average client.

Note: It's too early to say that this increase in profitability is driven by mobile or text. What we're saying is that the banks most profitable clients are the ones using mobile and text banking.

Mobile Banking vs. Text Banking - Part I

Last week I had an opportunity to review some marketing research from a Top 25 bank that offers both mobile banking and text banking and noticed something unexpected.

The average age of a mobile (browser) banking user is exactly the same as the average age of a text banking user - 42 years old.

I would have expected the text banking users to skew younger, but I think we're learning that the Gen Y clients are getting their Boomer parents hooked on the idea of texting.

Mobile Banking, Vacation & St. Jude

I'm flying out for vacation in just a couple of hours, but I've scheduled a couple of very interesting posts for Sunday and Tuesday...enjoy.


In the meantime, please don't forget that I'm raising money for the St. Jude Children's hospital by running the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 11th.

Just a $1 donation from each of you will go a long way, and rest assured that I'm training hard. So far I've logged 313 training miles since January 5th and completed my first half marathon (13.1 miles) last weekend in the time of 1:57:42!

Mobile Banking Updates - May 6

Harland launches mobile Web site design and hosting offering
"Expanding upon its current electronic banking offering which consists of Internet, mobile and business banking solutions, Harland Financial Solutions today announced the release of Cavion Mobile Website Hosting, a website hosting solution tailored to mobile devices."

Obopay Introduces Family Accounts
"Obopay has announced the Obopay Family Account that 'lets parents send money to their children -- or any family member -- instantly from any mobile phone. With Obopay's Family Account, parents get an Obopay Family Prepaid MasterCard issued by The Bancorp Bank for any child at least 13 years old, which can be used in-person, online or by phone with any merchant that accepts MasterCard debit cards.'"

E*TRADE Launches Mobile Pro Application for Apple iPhone
"E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corp. has announced that E*TRADE Securities LLC has introduced E*TRADE Mobile Pro for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch, expanding customer access to on-the-go, real-time investment, market and account information. The application provides many of the same interface, security, trading and banking features available on etrade.com to customers via their iPhone or iPod touch. The application is available at no additional cost to all E*TRADE Securities customers via the Apple App Store."

mFoundry 3 Mode Mobile Banking

mFoundry has just announced their launch of 3 Mode Mobile Banking. See release here: http://tinyurl.com/cp6cwo

Mobile Banking Updates - May 4

Dubai Islamic Bank Enhances Mobile Banking Services
"Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has unveiled its enhanced mobile banking offerings in a move to provide greater banking convenience to customers. The all-new Al Islami mobile banking service enables customers to use the SMS facility for all banking transactions, bill payments, request information or receive alerts."

Kenya's Central Bank to push for new banking rules
"The Central Bank of Kenya is pushing for policy guidelines that will enhance the regulatory framework of branchless banking. This the bank says has been formed out of the increasing Information Communication and Technology based banking services that continues to be made available for customers. According to Mr Cassian Nyanjua, an assistant director banking supervision at the bank, new regulations are also supposed to enhance the stability and safety."

Intuit's Quicken Online Releases Native iPhone App
"Yesterday, Intuit launched its first native app for the iPhone, Quicken Online Mobile. It's already risen to number four in the Finance category (note 1), and will likely hit number one given the number of Intuit fans using the iPhone. Currently, E*Trade's new Mobile Pro claims the top spot."

Fidelity National Information Services Tops New ABI Research Mobile Banking Vendor Matrix Ranking
"Fidelity National Information Services has been ranked at the top of the latest Vendor Matrix released by ABI Research. Fiserv and Sybase claimed the second and third spots in the company's new evaluation of worldwide mobile banking vendors."

First 2D bar code on book links to Amazon.com
"A new book on digital branding includes a 2D mobile bar code on its back cover that connects directly to the title’s page on Amazon’s mobile Web site. 'BrandDigital: Simple Ways Top Brands Succeed in the Digital World,' by branding expert Allen Adamson, is the first book to be sold in North America that includes an EZcode—a 2D bar code—to sell the title via the mobile device."

Professional Bank® Offers Mobile Banking
"Professional Bank®, a South Florida-based “relationship bank” dedicated to providing customized banking services for professionals and business executives, announces its Mobile Banking and Zero Fee ATM value-added services."

Mobile Banking Security and Revenue

Earlier today I found the article "Is Mobile Banking Safe?" by James Charles on PaymentsNews.com

At a high-level the article does a good job of explaining the security of each channel (Mobile Browser, SMS, Application.) Yet, the most interesting fact is that Lloyds TSB is still able to charge their clients the equivalent of $3.75/month.

Can you imagine?

Now, I know of a handful of institutions that are hovering at or above the 1 million user mark. So, lets run some quick numbers...

Lets say that $3.75/month is a tad to expensive. Instead we'll base the calculation on $1.99/month or $23.88/year. Next, lets say that only half of the existing users would be willing to pay for the service.

That would equate to $11,940,000 of NEW fee income - PER YEAR! In today's market that might just be enough to justify a promotion.