Mobile Banking Updates - July 25

Banks Struggle with the Decision to Offer Small Business Apps
"Since Apple released the iPhone in 2007, mobile banking apps for retail banking customers have become the financial equivalent of the little black dress — a must have. Yet, one customer type has been neglected in the app stores: small business owners. 'The commercial market is still growing and there are a lot of things people are trying to figure out,' says Megan Minich, head of product delivery and channel delivery at Silicon Valley Bank. She has worked on commercial mobile apps since 2006."

Staying ahead in the mobile payments game
"Most banks are now aware of the potential risks and benefits that mobile technologies pose to their payment activities, but they continue to face challenges about how to roll out new payment services in a cost-effective and timely way. Even where new payment technologies can be rolled out by an individual player, a wider mobile ecosystem network will still be required to enable those tools to fully function. Third-party payment services can help banks to meet these challenges, particularly when technologies are launched using banks’ existing online and mobile banking channels."

Mobile vs. desktop-based online banking
"In an era of mobile first, when any software product manager is chastised for not putting mobile front and center in any roadmap, and when online giants like Facebook pivot to mobile in a big way (or at least try to), it is worth wondering if the desktop and laptop are still important or even relevant in consuming online banking services. By the look of it, we are past the point of considering that mobile banking would face a risk of not gaining traction because of security issues. These were the original concerns raised in the early days of internet banking adoption and those were alleviated. So mobile is here and mobile is big but will mobile kill the desktop in the delivery of financial services?"

Monitise Exec: Mobile Melds Offline, Digital Banking
"Welcome to PYMNTS.com’s Midyear Review: a look into what the leaders of the payments industry have seen and accomplished this calendar year, and how they see trends playing out for the rest of 2013. We ask a top executive from each payments player the same six questions about how the industry has improved, what it still needs, and how his or her company plans to stay ahead of the competition in a complex and dynamic payments world."

Mobile banking, sure. But what about mobile bankers? Charlotte tech firm has the app
"Zenmonics Inc. this week debuted mobileBanker, a mobile tablet computer app that the company says 'transforms the way bank personnel access information and interact with customers.' Zenmonics mobileBanker makes sales, marketing, transaction and account-services information available through a single interface on a tablet device. It enables bankers to work side by side with a client or prospect — inside the bank or out."

Mobile banking - it's time to believe
"Mobile banking is something that many in the UK banking sector have been resolutely sticking their heads in the sand about. Latest figures from industry analysts show that the UK lags well behind North America, Europe and Asia in the m-banking stakes. Heeding early reports that decried mobile as a fad, UK banks seemed to have stood pin striped shoulder to pin striped shoulder in their failure to think about mobile and how it could map on to their businesses and start delivering the bank of tomorrow. But by doing this, they could be in serious danger of losing market share."