International Mobile Banking Updates - Dec 7

I’ve Seen the Future (in Haiti)
"Cash is so 20th century. I’ve been experimenting with a 21st-century alternative, using money on a cellphone account to buy goods in shops. It’s a bit like using a credit card, but the system can also enable you to use your cellphone account to transfer money to individuals or companies domestically or internationally. And it’s more secure because a thief would have to steal not only your phone but also your PIN to get access to your money."

Mobile Banking in the Emerging World
"In Tanzania, a hospital sends money by text message to women in remote areas so they can pay for bus fare to travel for critically needed surgery. In Afghanistan, the government pays its police officers by text message to skirt corrupt middlemen. In Pakistan, the biggest financial network is not a bank, but a unit of Telenor, the Norwegian mobile phone operator."

Seven Indian Banks Launch P2P Interbank Mobile Payments; How It Works
"ional Payment Corporation of India, on November 22nd 2010, launched Interbank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS) in India, with seven Banks enabling transfer of funds using mobile phones. The participating banks include some of the largest banks in India: State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, Yes Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank. The IMPS service will operate as back-end for the banks allowing them to offer a real-time money transfer facility to customers."

Hong Kong slow in adopting mobile banking
"Mobile banking impacts consumers' bank selection, according to the Mobile Banking Perception Study by global market research company Synovate. People's perceptions change about a bank if it does not offer mobile banking services and the study shows that about 50 per cent of consumers of this service use it for stock trading. However, only four per cent of Hong Kong respondents are currently using mobile banking."

Mobile banking: China Mobile may face opposition to pet bank plans
"Despite regulator concerns along the way, China Mobile seems determined to roll out comprehensive mobile banking services to it’s subscribers. With Shanghai Pudong Development (SPD) Bank, which China Mobile owns 20% of, it is planning to launch a wide range of financial products. But it would seem that regulatory issues are raising their heads once again."

RBC iPhone and BlackBerry app “coming soon”
"ING, CIBC, TD Bank, Desjardins, Scotiabank all have some sort of mobile banking app (iPhone, BlackBerry, Android) and for some reason RBC (the largest financial institution in Canada) to date doesn’t… but good news for customers as it’s “coming soon”.

RBC has posted a splash page with really old images on their site stating an iPhone and BlackBerry app will be released shortly. There is the standard features that include the ability to pay bills, transfer funds, check account balances, Use Interac Email Money Transfers and locate branches and ATMs."

Taiwanese mobile banking users to nearly triple: survey
"Over 30 percent of the public is expected to use mobile banking services within one year, to almost triple from the current 11 percent, according to the nation's first mobile banking online survey conducted by Citibank Taiwan Ltd., yesterday."

BOK launches mobile banking service
"Bank of Kathmandu (BOK) has on Wednesday launched a unique Mobile Banking service called "M-PAISA". According to the bank, it has introduced the service with the aim to provide an attractive and beneficiary service to all the mobile users. The bank also said that at present the service can be availed by the customers of Nepal Telecom only, by free registration from all BOK branches."

NuMobile Acquires Kenyan Startup To Enter Africa’s Mobile Banking Market
"NuMobile, Inc. today announced the acquisition of Kruze Technologies Ltd, a mobile wallet operation headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. NuMobile has scheduled an on-demand Webcast to be released next Tuesday, December 7th to present the Company’s African mobile banking strategy and to provide an overview of the acquisition announced today and of the pending acquisition expected to close imminently."

The push and pull of mobile banking
"Preventing money laundering, eliminating informal foreign remittance inflows and promoting savings among rural people have driven the theme of “financial inclusion” worldwide. Financial inclusion aims to include more people in the banking process. In Bangladesh, where only 13 percent of the population has a bank account and 33 percent a mobile phone, relevant parties are considering using mobile phones to deliver banking to the unbanked. In such initiatives, bank-nominated agents perform banking activities, including opening a mobile bank account and providing cash."