Mobile Banking Updates - Mar 20

Consumer Reports: Dial up your pocket ATM
"The cellphone and banking industries have conspired to cook up yet another high-tech task for all of us to learn: mobile banking. And according to Consumer Reports Money Adviser, it's catching on fast: Some 39 million Americans are already accessing their bank accounts through their cellphones. The good news is that it's a lot simpler and, with the proper precautions, safer than it might appear to be at first."

The Money Manager in Your Pocket
"As consumers manage more of their lives via smartphones and iPads, financial service companies are trying to ensure they don't get lost in the electronic shuffle. "The industry right now is app crazy," says James McGovern, vice-president for consulting services at Corporate Insight, a firm that monitors the ways financial companies communicate with customers. "We're just going where the customers are," says Christopher Larkin, E*Trade Financial's (ETFC) senior vice-president for active trading. Bank of America's (BAC) online brokerage, Merrill Edge, is even exploring the idea of face-to-face teleconferencing between clients and advisers through the mobile apps it unveiled on Mar. 9, says Alok Prasad, the division's head."

Making Sense Of Mobile
"Will the rapid adoption of smart phone technology assure the success of mobile banking? Is mobile banking just an extension of the Internet, or does it offer entirely new venues to interact with banking customers and generate revenues?"