Mobile Banking Updates - July 11

Usably Secure, Low-Cost Authentication for Mobile Banking
"This paper explores user authentication schemes for banking systems implemented over mobile phone networks in the developing world. We analyze an authentication scheme currently deployed by an Indian mobile banking service provider which uses a combination of PINs and printed codebooks for authenticating users. As a first step, we report security weaknesses in that scheme and show that it is susceptible to easy and efficient PIN recovery attacks. We then propose a new scheme which offers better secrecy of PINs, while still maintaining the simplicity and scalability advantages of the original scheme. Finally, we investigate the usability of the two schemes with a sample of 34 current and potential customers of the banking system. Our findings suggest that the new scheme is more efficient, less susceptible to human error and better preferred by the target consumers."

AT&T Enters Mobile Payment Acceptance Market
"AT&T recently announced that it has joined forces with Apriva to turn smartphones into point-of-sale devices that accept credit and debit card transactions. 'Sales increase when small businesses accept payment cards,' said Michael Antieri, president, advanced enterprise mobility solutions, AT&T Business Solutions. 'And given that an overwhelming majority of small businesses use smartphones, offering a mobile application that ties together payment cards and smartphones makes perfect sense.'"

PayPal head of mobile on the future of money
"PayPal has been doing its bit this week to raise awareness of the growing online retail opportunity in Australia. It seems overseas competitors are currently taking around 40 per cent of Australia’s online spend – it’s the kind of statistic that should have Aussie online entrepreneurs rubbing their hands together. Of course PayPal wants to see more online sales since its business is primarily concerned with how people will pay for the stuff we’re increasingly likely to buy online."

Are Mobile RDC Concerns Overblown?
"I like mobile banking. It's convenient, real-time and makes me feel savvy. So I appreciate, from a consumer perspective, JPMorgan Chase's announcement this week to move into the mobile remote deposit capture space. With Apple's iPhone application for remote deposits, Chase is stepping out ahead of the curve, trailing only a handful of other U.S. financial institutions. The most notable competitor in the space, USAA, last August launched its iPhone option for check-image deposits."

RaboDirect moves towards mobile banking
"RaboDirect has started development on a mobile internet banking platform for its customers, but general manager Greg McAweeney has flagged customer security as a primary concern in the mobile banking space. "The rise in mobile banking is definitely [a trend in Australian IT]. All of the major banks and even some of the second tier banks are now offering transactional mobile banking services. Clearly, the rise of smartphones are helping to drive that," he said. McAweeney said that RaboDirect is in the planning stages of developing a mobile platform, in tandem with a revamp of its public website."

Using your cellphone can make banking easier and faster
"Adrian Vermooten, Absa's head of mobile banking and messaging, says the bank has more than six million clients who are registered to receive notifications on their cellphones of bank transactions, more than two million active cellphone banking customers and more than 1.2 million internet banking customers. Christo Vrey, the managing executive of Absa's digital channels, says the bank has more than 1.7 million log-ons to its SMS banking service each month. Since it launched absa.mobi just over six weeks ago, more than 500,000 users have accessed the mobile portal, Vrey says."

A Boost in Mobile Banking
"The percentage of mobile users in the United States that utilize mobile banking via their mobile devices is not currently very big, but the practice looks to be picking up steam as consumers become more comfortable utilizing their cell phones in transacting business. About a month ago, ComScore released some data that showed in the month of April of 2010, 13.2 million people accessed bank accounts through a mobile site, which is almost a 70% increase from a year ago."

StanChart starts mobile banking in Oman
"Standard Chartered Bank has recently launched its mobile-phone banking service, 'm-banking', in Oman. m-banking will provide Standard Chartered Bank's customers with access to banking 24 hours a day, seven days a week, anywhere in the world all through their mobile phone. This service offers customers greater flexibility and convenience while the ability to receive sms alerts on every activity or movement within their bank account or credit cards provides enhanced security."

Bluepoint Solutions Launches Mobile Remote Deposit Capture
"Bluepoint Solutions, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and innovator in remote deposit capture (RDC), image-based item processing and enterprise content management software technology for financial institutions, announced the release of QwikDeposit To Go, a sophisticated mobile remote deposit capture application. Powered by Mitek Systems patented IMagePROVE technology, Bluepoint Solutions QwikDeposit Mobile Capture application completes Bluepoint’s existing suite of Check 21 capture points."