"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" 

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Mobile Banking Updates

Mobile payment madness grips North America
"With fresh venture capital flowing to mobile payment enablers and signs of a viable cashless marketplace developing, will US wireless carriers soon commandeer the person-to-person payment space? Kirk Laughlin reports."

Mobile Financial Services Climbing Out of the Crisis Mire
"Yesterday, I was took part in a panel discussion hosted by InformationWeek, BS&T’s sister publication, about mobile banking and payments. Along with myself were Doug Brown, Bank of America’s SVP, mobile product development; Charles Landry, VP and general manager with VeriSign, the event’s sponsor; and Lori Beck, director, product management, with Western Union."

New mobile banking service, MoBank, set to launch using txttrans system
"MoBank - the brainchild of Steve Townend (ex First Direct and Egg) and Dominic Keen (ex Egg) - is a brand new mobile banking service that works with an existing bank account to let users buy and pay for items using a mobile phone. It works by connecting users, via the Internet on a mobile phone, to a secure transactional payment system developed by txttrans. Users pre-register a debit or credit card, and receive a secure PIN to access the MoBank service from a mobile phone, so they don’t have to enter card details every time a transaction is made."


Wincor Nixdorf and Sevenval form m-banking partnership
"This partnership will allow Sevenval, a leading technology specialist in mobile Internet portals, to expand its international activities. As one of the world's leading suppliers of IT solutions for banks, Wincor Nixdorf is expanding its PC/E Retail Banking Solution Suite with Sevenval's multichannel output technology. In the future this will allow Wincor Nixdorf to map retail banks' Internet portals and services on mobile terminals and home entertainment systems."

Monitise and Visa


Visa takes a stake in Monitise http://tinyurl.com/nkeg8t


Monday, June 29, 2009

Your Very Own Portable Bank

>> Click to View

Monitise and Lloyds

It was just announced that Monitise has launced text balances with Lloyds TSB. Unless I'm mistaken this is the first confirmation that Monitise is now offering all 3 mobile banking solutions. Learn more at http://tinyurl.com/lamrx6


Sunday, June 28, 2009

Mobile Banking Updates - Jun 28

Mobile Money Ventures Teams With Citibank To Launch First Browser-Based Mobile Banking Offering In The Philippines
"Mobile Money Ventures, LLC (MMV), a leading global solutions provider of the next generation of mobile financial services, today announced it has teamed up with Citibank to offer the first browser-based mobile banking solution of its kind in the Philippines. Citi Mobile Banking allows customers to securely manage their banking needs from their mobile handsets at any time and from any location."

AdMob Unveils New Research on Demographics and Behavioral Characteristics of iPhone and iPod touch Users
"AdMob, the world's largest and fastest growing mobile advertising platform, today released new research on the demographics and behavioral characteristics of iPhone and iPod touch users in the US. This research determined that while there are many similarities between users of the two devices, key differences in the demographic makeup of each group exist in areas such as age and household income."

A Financial Services Technology Group is Developing Standards for Mobile Payments

Mobile Banking Update: What's New from Bank of America?
"Bank of America was one of the first institutions to move toward mobile banking in a big way. Two years into the initiative, Doug Brown, SVPO of Mobile Product Development, discusses:
* Mobile trends at BoA;
* Security hurdles the institution has faced;
* Advice for other institutions now getting into mobile banking."

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Paradox of Mobile

Paradox of Mobile http://www.americanbanker.com/btn_article.html?id=200906249MFK9LQ5

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Cashedge POPmoney

In a Wall Street Journal article Cashedge discusses their new mobile peer to peer product called POPmoney. Looks like some competition for Obopay. http://tinyurl.com/lnfxbk

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

USAA Mobile Banking

USAA will bolster mobile banking application with remote deposit capture http://tinyurl.com/lvxpdw

Monday, June 22, 2009

Mobile Banking and Western Union

Western Union launches vendor program which includes Fundamo, mChek, Sybase. Utiba Pte http://tinyurl.com/m9sfzu



Sunday, June 21, 2009

Smartphones and Mobile Banking - Danielle Nohe


On June 16th, Danielle Nohe wrote an interesting article for Compete titled Smartphone Intelligence in Financial Services. Specifically, the article discusses the differences between iPhone and Non-iPhone users.
For instance...
* Phone owners are 1.8x more likely to check their account balance on their mobile device
* iPhone owners are 2.2x more likely to use their mobile device to trade stocks
* iPhone owners are less likely to say they don’t utilize their mobile device to manage their finances (36%) than other smartphone owners (67%)
>> Continue Reading

Mobile Banking Updates - Jun 21

Banks feel urgent need in mobile banking
"Bankers at a panel on mobile banking at Celent's Innovation and Insight Day came to consensus recognizing mobile banking as necessary condition for banks. The discussion was moderated by senior analyst Jacob Jegher. There were three bankers and one alternative financial services provider as participants. All agreed that mobile is where the business is going."

New Research Shows Optimism About Mobile Banking And Payments
"Spurred by the increasing popularity of smart phones and a strong push by financial institutions, the number of Americans actively using mobile-banking services could grow to 53.1 million by 2013, an increase of 431% from an estimated 10 million today."

Mobile Payment Skins LLC Has Contactless Payment All Wrapped Up
"Their specific skin is then printed and fabricated on-demand and sent to them. When the card holder receives the vinyl skin, it is pealed from its backing and "wrapped" onto their mobile phone. The skin is embedded with a contactless payment chip that gives the stylish skin added function at the point of sale. A simple wave of the mobile phone at a contactless POS reader makes a transaction with the merchant. It is easy as that."

Fidelity National Information Services Earns Prestigious Industry Recognition
"In its annual ranking of leading technology companies, BTN ranked FIS(TM) the number-one technology company to watch in 2009. Since 2001, BTN has annually ranked what it believes to be the top ten technology companies of greatest interest to bankers. Companies in the annual ranking have included innovators in core processing, mobile banking, data security, risk, imaging, Web banking, data analytics, process outsourcing, loyalty and more."

Monday, June 15, 2009

Major U.S. Carrier Signs Contract for BilltoMobile

I was on the paymentsnews.com site earlier today and found an interesting article about Danal, a Korean company that recently signed a contract with a major U.S. carrier to "enable Americans to charge online purchases to their mobile phone bills."

The article continues to say the the company "will launch BilltoMobile in the United States in about three months."

I'll be watching this one carefully. The carriers I've spoken to categorically stated that they have no interest in having purchases charged to their mobile bill. They stated that they're fearful of the client experiencing "sticker shock" when they open a monthly bill that looks like a credit card statement. Continue reading >>

Mobile Banking Updates - Jun 15

Safest Way to Bank Online? Your Cell Phone
"So you want to bank safely online? Then ditch your computer and make the transaction via your cell phone instead. Using a mobile handset for this most sensitive online act might sound counterintuitive, given that phones are prone to being lost or stolen, but your cell phone might actually be safer than your computer for paying bills or checking your statement online."

Mobile Money Substituted For Banking In Developing Nations
"The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), a microfinance group working to expand access to financial services for the poor in developing countries, says that mobile financial services will be offered to the poor people in burgeoning markets. They believe that the increase in mobile coverage is responsible for this growth. This would mean that over a billion people in the developing world would have access to a mobile phone, but not to a bank account. The CGAP expects this number to hit 1.7 billion by 2012, with approximately one in five using mobile money, thus creating the $5 billion market."

Western Union and MCOM

Check out the mobile announcement at http://tinyurl.com/nyughr

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Mobile Banking Updates - Jun 14

Mobile Banking Is Now a Must-Have for Banks
"Since its inception, people have been asking if banks are getting into mobile banking as a way to keep pace with the competition or as a way of providing true value to customers and the institution. The consensus among bankers at a panel on mobile banking at Celent's Innovation and Insight Day seems to be it's a little of both. Senior analyst Jacob Jegher moderated a discussion with three bankers and one alternative financial services provider. All agreed with what others in the industry have long been saying—that mobile is where the business is going."

Firethorn Launches Mobile Banking Apps for Android G1 Phones
"irethorn has launched a new Android mobile banking app. Firethorn's mobile banking Android application allows G1 users to securely manage their finances, including checking balances and transaction history, transferring funds, receiving offers, viewing and paying bills, and tracking rewards points."

Testing the limits of new banking technology
"With today’s tech-happy consumers, providing them with the latest gadget or innovative service could lead to a happier bank customer. Banking today is about more than just parking your money in a brick and mortar facility or even with an online system. Customers, especially younger ones, expect innovation. To that end, U.S. Bank is involved in several trials that if deemed viable, could find their way into customer’s wallets, desktops and even mobile phones."

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

comScore Reports Mobile Audience Grows 51 Percent


"The mobile browser is the leading access method for seeking local information, with 20.7 million users in March 2009, up 34 percent versus year ago. However, the strongest growth in the category is coming from downloaded applications, which grew 83 percent versus year ago, followed by SMS at 72 percent." Continue Reading >>

Monday, June 8, 2009

iPhone 3GS Safer for Mobile Banking


The just announced iPhone 3GS (available June 19 at $199) will include a "remote wipe" feature making it even safer for mobile banking and mobile payment applications.

Also note - the price for the 2nd generation iPhone (3G) has been reduced to just $99 and should allow Apple to continue their dominant growth in the smart phone category.


Mobile Banking from Fiserv M-COM in the News

Fiserv White Paper on Profitability of Mobile Financial Services
"Fiserv has published a new white paper titled 'How to Achieve a Compelling ROI from Mobile Financial Services' that explores 'how a strategic approach to mobile banking and payments can provide financial institutions with a tangible return on investment.'"

Fiserv Offers Fast-Track Mobile Banking
"Fiserv Inc. on Monday introduced Mobile Money FastTrack, a streamlined version — with implementation cycles as short as 90 days — of its mobile banking software aimed at midsize to large financial companies."

NZ software company rated one to watch in US

"A New Zealand software developer selling cellphone banking technology to the world has been named one of "Ten Tech Companies to Watch" by an American trade publication. M-Com is a graduate of Auckland University's Icehouse business incubator. Its software - enabling customers to do such things as check their balances, transfer money and pay bills using their mobile phones - is now in use by most of the big New Zealand banks. Last year it won a deal to supply Fiserv, a Fortune 500 company which sells technology to more than 10,000 banks globally."