Mobile Banking Updates - Apr 27

Smartphones to drive European m-banking take-up - Forrester
"The survey of 14000 people in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK shows that mobile banking is still relatively little-used, with application-based systems particularly unpopular.

Just one per cent of European Net users with a mobile phone use banking applications, although this is partly because so few financial institutions offer customers the option. Mobile Internet systems are slightly more popular, with four per cent visiting bank Web sites through handsets. However, SMS-based systems continue to dominate, with 10% of European online mobile phone users signing up for one-way text message alerts from their banks."

Brett King: Banks are Losing the Customer and Innovation Battle
"For mobile internet banking, it is far worse. The iPhone has dominated global smart-phone sales over the last 3 years. In 2009, iPhone made up 72% of smart-phone sales in Japan, but less than 1% of banks in the U.S. have an iPhone app - best case of the largest banks, the percentages is closer to 10%. The excuse for this lag in innovation is undoubtedly that 2009 was a tough year to invest in technology. The problem is that banks should have already committed to this in 2007, when the iPhone was released, not be thinking about potentially launching in 2010/2011, five years after the customer has already adopted the technology. Given the expectations are for close to a billion mobile banking users by 2015, there are just no excuses for such a lag."

Analyst Labels M-Commerce Renaissance a Priority
"Banks making a concerted push to promote contactless payment technology are focusing on the wrong target and should switch their short-term focus to mobile commerce.

That's the main conclusion of a new report by independent technology analyst Ovum, which finds that m-commerce is set to experience a renaissance as industry players express renewed interest and mobile banking services take root."

Leveraging Mobile to Combat Fraud
"Join Javelin for a complimentary webinar presentation on using mobile to combat fraud. The mobile channel brings new ways to increase banking security in a time when fraud is on the rise. Mobile alerts and mobile banking bring more advanced capabilities to fight fraud through allowing consumers to have anytime, anywhere access to their finances. The growth of mobile banking offers consumers and FI’s a tool to help stop fraud as soon as it occurs. With the development of mobile banking and near real-time alerts, financial institutions can deputize consumers to help in the battle against fraud – for their own good as well as yours."

Bank of Hawaii - It's Banking on the Go
"If you have an e-Bankoh Online Banking account, you can access your account from your mobile phone. It's free and just takes seconds to setup."

FIS-Sponsored Survey Reveals Consumer Interest in Replacing Cash and Checks with P2P Money Movement
"Demand for electronic person-to-person (P2P) payments and transfers is growing rapidly and the interest of making these and other payment transactions through an ePayment Portal is strong as well. In fact, the study found that of those who were interested in the Portal concept, 70 percent would be likely to use P2P payment services within that Portal. This is according to research commissioned by FIS(TM) (FIS 25.04, -0.61, -2.38%) , one of the world's largest providers of banking and payments technology. The study was conducted by eCom Advisors, a provider of executive consulting and research services in the financial services industry."

ClairMail reaches agreement with CashEdge
"Mobile banking and payment service provider ClairMail has entered into an agreement with CashEdge, a provider of Intelligent Money Movement services, to provide financial institutions with connectivity to CashEdge's Popmoney through the ClairMail platform.

As a result of the relationship, ClairMail customers will have the ability to provide consumers with a secure mobile banking and P2P payments experience.

Through the integration with ClairMail's platform, the two companies will enable financial institutions (FIs) to offer their customers the ability to send payments by using the email address or mobile phone number of the recipient. Each FI can custom brand the Popmoney mobile experience, which provides consumers the security of using a service offered directly from their bank."

Sybase 365 and FirstCaribbean International Bank Bring Industry-Leading Mobile Banking Technology to the Caribbean
"Sybase 365, a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc., the global leader in mobile messaging and mobile commerce services, today announced a partnership with FirstCaribbean International Bank to provide customers with mobile banking services enabling them the flexibility and convenience of managing their finances over their mobile phones.

FirstCaribbean International Bank is the largest regionally-listed bank in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean with branches across 17 markets. The new service is of tremendous value to FirstCaribbean customers as it gives many of them a more convenient way to bank on the go, without needing to visit a branch -- something that is of particular importance to many without home Internet connections."