Mobile Banking Updates - Jan 3

Top 9 Security Threats of 2011
"Mobile banking and social networks are expected to pose new security threats in the payments space in 2011. But security experts say those threats won't displace the Zeus botnet, malware attacks and phishing threats, which for years have plagued banking institutions. Fraud attempts will escalate, not diminish, as new threats and channels blossom in 2011."

The Self-Service Triple Crown: Social Media, Mobile and PFM
"One clue to where banks will be placing their Internet banking bets in 2011 can be found in Geezeo's pipes. 'We have an enormous pipeline with all of the partnerships that we have entered into,' says Shawn Ward, CEO of Geezeo, which expected about 20 credit unions and banks to sign up for its white label PFM product by the end of 2010, with an additional 200 slated to come online during 2011."

Banks, Credit Unions Rush In On Mobile Craze
"Whether a bank or credit union has $1 billion or $100 million in assets, customer expectations are all the same. What they’re looking for, increasingly, is the ability to manage their money on the go. And while the ATM was once the symbol of cutting-edge banking technology, today’s customers want to manage their transactions from their mobile phones. Just look at the numbers. More than 13 percent of households accessed their bank account via a mobile device in the second quarter, according to a report from The Nielsen Co. That’s up from 11.6 percent during the first quarter."

Mobile banking: a new way of doing business in Haiti
"Adeline Alexandre does a steady business selling Haitian staples at Fifi Boutique, a little hillside shop off a dirt street with potholes the size of bathtubs. Sardine cans, buckets of rice, jars of cooking oil and stacks of empty Coca-Cola bottles fill her shelves — along with a glaring reminder that she, like Haiti, remains in the financial dark ages. Her cash register is a splintering wooden drawer filled with crumpled bills and tarnished coins. It sits behind the counter on a gray bucket seat that had been torn from a car and dropped on the store’s concrete floor."

Rwanda processes 5,000 mobile banking transactions per day
"MTN Rwanda has reported that it was responsible for 5,000 mobile money service transactions every day through the mobile operator’s service that enable users to transfer money electronically with their mobile phones. The service dubbed 'MTN Mobile Money' was officially launched in February 2010."

Wall Street Firms Going Mobile in 2011
"There are 235 million mobile subscribers in the United States -- 49 million of whom have smartphones, according to Celent. And one out of every three U.S. smartphone owners uses mobile banking. Applications for the BlackBerry and Apple's iPhone are mushrooming. Apple's third-party applications store now offers more than 200,000 "apps" for the device. And earlier this year, the launch of the iPad, with its larger screen, triggered a new wave of excitement in the mobile space."

5 new services credit unions are offering
"A small but growing number of credit unions are jumping on the mobile-banking bandwagon, even if most consumers are not quite ready to ride with them. A June 2010 survey by the National Association of Federal Credit Unions in Arlington, Va., revealed that about 7.5 percent of its members currently offer mobile banking. According to the credit union consulting firm Callahan & Associates in Washington, D.C., 43 percent of credit unions said they planned to add a mobile-banking option in 2010, although some were holding back because of security concerns."