Mobile Banking Updates - Dec 4

MasterCard Backs And Partners With Mobile Banking Company mFoundry To Expand Reach Of NFC
"After announcing a new partnership with Intel, MasterCard is revealing a new collaboration to help spread the use of its NFC technology through its PayPass program. The credit card giant is making a strategic investment in mFoundry, a company that powers mobile banking solutions for more than 500 banks and credit unions nationwide."

Seizing the Mobile Banking Opportunity
"Feature-rich smartphones, high-speed 4G networks, the availability of downloadable apps and an increasingly mobile workforce have driven a huge uptick in information-based mobile banking services, such as transaction alerts and balance checks. In fact, mobile banking recently has begun to displace online banking for such information-based services."

Century launches mobile banking, alerts
"Century Bank and Trust is excited to announce the launch of free mobile banking and account alerts.
Mobile banking and account alerts put customers in the know and in control 24/7. With busy schedules and lifestyles, managing finances can be a challenge. Now mobile banking and account alerts allow customers to stay on top of their finances anytime, anywhere from their cell phones. Manage money on the go- check balances, transfer money, pay bills, receive account alerts and more."

Mobile Banking Can Pave the Way for NFC
"Google, Visa, MasterCard, Sprint, and even Pentagon Federal Credit Union. The list of early proponents of innovative near field communication tap and pay mobile technology keeps growing. But that brings two questions into sharp focus."

Opportunities for banks in this age of ubiquitous mobility
"Perhaps more startling than the penetration of mobile phones into the developing economies, is the fact that mobile phone users have ignored the natural boundaries of the electricity-grid and in 32 countries today the population of mobile data subscribers exceeds their on-grid populations. According to a recent study by CISCO1, this phenomenon will become visible at a regional level by the end of 2011 when the total number of mobile users in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia will exceed their total on-grid populations. By the end of 2013, the same will occur in the Middle East."

Tyfone teams wtih Oregon credit union to offer iCashe Mobile Wallet
"Portland, Ore.-based mobile financial service company Tyfone is working with OnPoint, a credit union also based in Portland, to offer a new mobile wallet product called iCashe Mobile Wallet, the company said in an announcement. The iCashe Mobile Wallet lets OnPoint's mobile banking customers buy gift cards via their smartphones and send them using SMS text messaging or email. OnPoint is the first credit union in the U.S. to offer the iCashe Mobile Wallet, the announcement said."