Mobile Banking Updates - Jun 29

Mobile Banking Growth Opportunity 'Substantial'
"Smartphones and tablets have already upended the consumer electronics industry (having reached near-equal penetration to e-readers and netbooks, according to Parks Associates). And they're expected to have a residual effect on the mobile banking world as well. According to a study from Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies, more than half of smartphone and tablet owners use their devices for some form of mobile banking. At the same time, the 39% of people who plan to purchase one of the devices will use it for banking."

Mobile a key factor in consumer banking: study
"Mobile banking is quickly becoming the future of banking statements, and a new study found that mobile is now a factor when consumers are choosing banks. The study, which was conducted by financial consulting and research firm Mercatus LLC, reported that consumers are now using mobile platforms as a major consideration for banking. This study aligns with recent developments in financial banking."

FNB reports soaring African m-banking uptake
"The South Africa-based outfit says it subsidiaries have experienced massive take-up of m-banking services with year-on-year growth of 376% in Zambia, 277% in Botswana, 204% in Namibia and 473% in Swaziland. Nearly two thirds of its customers in Botswana now use mobile banking, nearly half of those in Namibia and Zambia and 11% in Swaziland."

Will E-Banking Close Your Bank Branch?
"Bank branches are being shuttered across the country as more consumers switch to electronic banking, since they tend to attract an older demographic, one more used to paper checks and deposit forms. But younger consumers are increasingly edging closer to mobile and online banking, with 30- and 40-somethings trailing closely behind. A study from Boston-based industry watcher Mercatus states that mobile banking platforms are a major consideration when choosing a bank."

Smart Strategies for Dumb Phones
"Yeah, yeah. Allison Landers knows all about smartphones and how quickly they've been proliferating. As an executive in Key Bank's online and mobile services division, Landers is more than aware that iPhones, Blackberrys and Androids have been the driving force behind the faster-than-expected rate of adoption for mobile financial services these past two years.

But since launching mobile banking services in 2009, Key has not exclusively catered to this subset of tech-savvy customers. The bank doesn't even offer an iPhone application yet, keeping most of its focus on less flashy offerings: an SMS text-based service and a website designed specifically for mobile phones. This lets Key reach more customers than it could through services intended just for those with smartphones."

Will banks avoid the mistake of DIY internet banking platforms and opt for shared mobile banking?
"Everybody is looking at the cloud right now. This might be a private cloud that sits within an organisation, the public cloud which harnesses software on the web or a community cloud where companies with similar needs share software that doesn't give them any differentiation. The third option is of particular interest to me because I recent interviewed a couple of senior executives at the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift). This is a messaging service currently used by over 8000 finance organisations. "