Mobile Banking Updates - Nov 7

Mobile Download Guide: Top iPhone Finance Apps for Mobile Banking
"Individuals and businesses (both big and small) often turn to smartphones and handhelds to help manage their finances on a daily basis. It's been like this for years and is no different with the iPhone, where tons of mobile money apps (i.e. expense trackers, loan trackers, calculators, banking, etc.) have helped folks keep their financial houses in order from day one.

In this article, we offer a comprehensive survey of over 80 of the best and most useful of these mobile-money-management apps—both free and paid. Most stand alone but some integrate with desktop programs such as Quicken, Money and Excel or your bank's online services."

Strong Mobile Adoption’s a Magnet for Tech Development
"Amid new research suggesting American consumers are rapidly embracing mobile banking, new payment, deposit and account capabilities are flooding the tech market.

These tech plays come as new a Nielsen survey found the number of U.S. subscribers to mobile banking has increased by more than 129 percent to more than 13 million over the past two years. Other research, conducted by TowerGroup on behalf of Clairmail, said that ten percent of online banking customers take up mobile banking within a year of the their banking launching the service. Tower also says the current domestic mobile banking market should grow to 53 million in 2013 from 10 million in 2009."

Mobile Security: Jumping the IP Hurdle
"Mobile banking security -- it's a big concern, and for many reasons the industry does not yet truly understand.

During the Mobile Financial Services Forum in Arlington, Va., in October, Jason Rouse, a mobile security expert and principal consultant of the mobile and wireless practice for Cigital, said mobile security and the authentication of mobile transactions are challenges the industry must address. Fluid mobile browsing habits and lacking authentication technology for mobile devices are to blame."

PayPal trumps banks on mobile micropayments
"Watching the bevy of announcements coming out of PayPal’s X Innovate conference this week, you could be forgiven for thinking banks have entirely missed the mobile payments boat.

Online media giants including Facebook and FT.com have jumped on board PayPal’s new digital goods payments platform, which will see PayPal receive 5 per cent plus 5 cents of every transaction under $12 that they process. Given the millions of transactions migrating to mobile, that translates to big business for PayPal, and a big loss for banks that have ignored micropayments, despite being aware of them for years."

The next 12 months for mobile banking...
"Mobile banking is one of a handful of new banking services that seemed to come along just as banks withdrew investment in new services and reigned in innovation budgets. However, as we emerge from the crisis there are lots of forces that are currently in alignment, pushing more of the tier one banks towards rolling out a mobile banking solution."

Mobile Banking Apps Many, Marketing Success Stories Few
"In their efforts to sign people up for mobile banking, banks can be their own worst enemy. The number of financial institutions offering downloadable applications, customized websites and check depositing services for mobile devices is expected to skyrocket in the next year. But consumer adoption could fall short of expectations without the right promotion, experts say."

Mobile Banking - International Updates - Nov 4

Majority of Young Adult Canadians Anxious About Demands on their Time: Scotiabank Study
"Scotiabank recently polled Canadians to better understand their time commitments and attitudes toward them. The study, conducted by Harris/Decima, found that more than half of Canadians (57 per cent) agree that their daily schedule is more hectic today than it was five years ago, but this statement is most true for those aged 25-44 (74 per cent for those 25-34; 78 per cent for those 35-44). This young adult age group was also more likely than other Canadians to feel they would be much better off with an extra hour of free time each day (78 per cent for those 25-34; 80 per cent for those 35-44 vs. 63 per cent national average)."

BoComm to launch mobile banking services for iPad
"Bank of Communications, the fifth-largest lender by market value in mainland China, will become the first commercial bank to launch mobile banking services for iPad this month, only one month after iPad's launch in China, sources reported."

China Unicom to launch iPhone banking services with China Merchants Bank
"China Unicom and China Merchants Bank have signed a cooperation ag reement to jointly launch mobile banking services through the Apple iP hone. The two parties established a strategic cooperation partnership to develop the mobile Internet in July, 2009."

Mobile banking quickly reaching maturity in Europe, really?
"Then ask how many people do mobile banking on their phone. 3% to 5%. And that corresponds exactly to recent statistics from the US where banking channel usage preference is shown as 50% via the internet, 25% via branches, 15% via ATMs and 5% via mobile. I know we all like to juggle with statistics when we’re trying to sell something and that’s fine when we talk about forecasts. That’s what we pay our analysts for, right? But to come out with statements like this about mobile banking maturity today goes a bit far, does it not?"

YellowPepper Receives IFC/ World Bank Group's First Equity Investment in a Latin American Mobile Banking Firm
"YellowPepper [www.yellowpepper.com] announced today that it received the first equity investment in a mobile banking firm in Latin America by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. IFC provided $3 million and helped mobilize an additional $2 million. This brings the total investment in YellowPepper to more than $15 million."

Mobile Banking Updates - Nov 2

Will Mobile Corporate Banking Fly?
"Exaggerated claims by technology vendors about their new products are a dime a dozen. But when Fundtech, a major provider of bank transaction technology, recently announced that it was rolling out "the first mobile platform designed specifically for corporate electronic banking," it was hard not to take notice.

There are, to be sure, other players in the mobile corporate banking business. Pyxis Mobile, for example, offers a broad platform of solutions for internal use by commercial banks and other financial institutions. And many banks have adapted applications designed primarily for consumers so business customers can use them."

“Phishing” website imitates BML mobile banking
"On 31st October 2010, Bank of Maldives issued a warning that fraudsters had created a false BML website to deceive the customers of mobile banking service. This is the second reported case of a “phishing” attempt to BML customers.

The fraudsters were inviting BML customers to their website located at their domain name by sending text messages from 00455, claiming it was a registration website for the BML mobile banking service. If a customer process the registration through the fraudulent website the cyber criminals can obtain customers bank account number, credit card number and its security code."

Union Bank Launches Mobile Banking App. For Commercial Customers - Quick Facts
"Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.'s unit Union Bank N.A., Tuesday announced the launch of its Mobile Business Center, a secure and user-friendly mobile banking application that enables its commercial customers to access their accounts and perform certain treasury management activities on their smartphones."

St George Introduces Android m-banking Application
"Android smart phone users will now have access to key online banking features with a new, purpose-built Mobile Banking application for Android devices - another Australian first for St.George bank - with an application for the new Blackberry Torch to follow soon."

Michigan First Credit Union Launches Mobile Banking
"Michigan First Credit Union (http://www.MichiganFirst.com) today announced the addition of Michigan First Mobile to its suite of convenient banking services. The new mobile banking service is available to Michigan First's more than 80,000 members, allowing them to check balances, view transaction history, transfer funds and pay bills, anywhere, anytime, from their mobile device. Members can access Michigan First Mobile via their mobile browser, by texting, or by downloading a free application. Michigan First Mobile applications are available for Blackberry, iPhone, and Android devices, as well as several others."

San Diego resident signed up for mobile banking and won a grand prize
"San Diego County Credit Union, San Diego’s largest locally owned financial institution, has announced that Raymond Regno of San Diego claimed a brand new MacBook Air as the grand prize winner of its Mobile Banking Sweepstakes. In addition, five first prize winners won an iPad, 10 other lucky winners won a $100 iTunes Gift Card and the first five hundred new enrollees won a monetary prize."

Mobile Banking Vendor Updates - Oct 26

S1 Mobile Adoption on the Rise
"S1, a leading global provider of payments and financial services software solutions, today announced that more than 35 customers across three continents have licensed the S1 Mobile application. In addition, S1 mobile-enabled customer applications are available on the App Store(SM) for the following financial institutions: Trustmark, Mercantile Bank of Michigan, First Community Bank, and Ventura County Credit Union."

Fidelity Information Systems provides mobile banking platform for Virginia credit union
"Fidelity Information Systems (FIS) Inc. announced today that it has implemented a mobile banking platform for Chartway Federal Credit Union, which is based in Virginia Beach, Va. Fidelity's mobile banking platform enables Chartway members to check account balances, view account transactions, transfer funds between accounts and receive text alerts. The mobile banking platform has been a hit with credit union members."

Infosys Launches Finacle Mobile Banking 2.0
"According to Haragopal Mangipudi, Global Head - Finacle, Infosys Technologies, 'As channel innovation continues to be a strategic priority for progressive banks, mobile banking has truly come of age. Finacle mobile banking 2.0 enables banks to create and leverage game-changing opportunities, through the mobile channel, to build, deepen and institutionalize relationships with both customers and new emerging consumer segments.'"

mFoundry Launches Mobile Banking 'Adoption Guarantee'
"mFoundry, the award-winning provider of secure mobile financial solutions, announced today that it is launching an "Adoption Services" program to complement its "90 Day to Live" club. New mFoundry customers can take advantage of an optional package of adoption services that guarantees a minimum adoption rate of 10% of the marketed base within one year of launch."

Mobile Photo Bill Pay
"After establishing online-bill-payment arrangements as part of their banking account, users of Mobile Photo Bill Pay can initiate e-bill-payment sessions on their smartphones, then simply snap photos of the bills they want to pay, verify the payment information and click on the app's "PAY" button."

Consumers See Mobile Payments as Reason to Stay with or Change Banks
"Obopay has announced the results of a recent survey exploring consumer attitudes about mobile payments and banking in the U.S. 53% of consumers interested in a mobile payment service would consider changing banks if another bank offered the service. 70% of those responding indicated that if the service allowed them to get paid, send or receive money by mobile phone, it would be an incentive to remain at their bank."

Live Blogging - Mobile Shopping Summit

Steve Madden - Andrew Koven
* Mobile growth at Steve Madden as a percent of total ecommerce
April - 4.4%
May - 7.9%
June - 8.6%
July - 9.5%
Aug - 9.9%
Sept - 10%
Oct YTD - 10.5%

Kenneth Cole - Tom Davis
* Mass merchants (Zappos, Target) are focused on search and browse. Removed all ads and promotions

* Lookup Sites (Fandango, American Airlines) focus on promoting apps, login and quick information.

* Brand Sites (Kenneth Cole) carry the personality into the mobile space - cross channel experience

Mobile stats today:
* 10% of ecommerce traffic through mobile
* 4% of revenue through mobile

Live Blogging - Mobile Shopping Summit

Pizza Hut - Baron Concors

Lessons Learned:
1) Must have a fun and intuitive user interface
2) Weigh functionality vs App bloat
3) Weigh functionality vs speed to market
4) Invest heavy resources in QA

Cars.com - Sharon Knitter
* Focus on appropriate amount of content. Display an "appetizer" of content then click for the entree
* Phase two has focused on ad serving functionality
* Mobile browser avg 20 pages consumed
* Application avg 31.9 pages consumed
* 1200 devices visit cars.com monthly. 100 devices represent 80% of visits
* Split of mobile traffic: 23% full online, 10% mobile browser, 66% applications

Lessons Learned:
* Focus on customer experience
* Adapt quickly
* Cannibalize yourself
* Measure consistently
* Be agnostic
* Integrate every department and every business unit

Mobile Banking Updates - Oct 24

The Future of Mobile Payments
"Mobile technology is already having a big impact on financial services, from remote banking to mobile payments. The continued proliferation of smart phones is only going to accelerate that impact. Mobile is already revolutionizing the way consumers interact with their financial institutions, and banks have to stay ahead of the technology and the security concerns."

Suddenly, Mobile Banking Is Now a ‘Baseline Expectation’
"Mobile banking, and by extension mobile payments, have rapidly crossed the line from add-on to necessary products for financial institutions, speakers and other sources at a banking-technology expo said on Wednesday. The primary reason mobile has assumed such importance has more to do with fear of attrition than with revenue opportunities, these sources said."

Mobile Banking Engages Young, Diverse and Male, Says Nielsen
"According to a June 2010 Nielsen survey, people who use their mobile phone for web-based banking tend to be younger, male and more ethnically diverse than their online banking counterparts. Texting banking is growing in popularity with all ages.

Although this study looked at current mobile banking features, there are more features in the works. Soon smartphone users will be able to photogrpah their bills to pay them."

5 mobile banking must-haves
"Consumers can use their mobile phones to quickly see how much money is available before making a large retail purchase, says Secil Watson, senior vice president for Internet and mobile banking at Wells Fargo in San Francisco.

She says banking customers report they often want to purchase something at a retail location with their debit card but don't know if they have enough money in their checking accounts. With mobile banking, customers can discreetly check their balance and know whether the sale would be approved, she says."

Mobile Phones Increasingly Becoming A One Stop Shop For 35 Million Consumers
"Three quarters of all British adults are now multitasking on their mobile phones, leading them to place a higher value on their mobile than it originally cost them, according to new research from Lloyds TSB."

The Future of Mobile Banking
"The growth of mobile banking technology is increasingly hard to ignore. Analyst firm Javelin Strategy & Research reports that nearly 50 percent of all mobile users in the United States will be using mobile banking within four years and that nearly 50 percent of iPhone and other smartphone users already use mobile financial services today.

With 2010 being the year in which mobile banking broke into the mainstream, 2011 will be the year in which financial institutions will look to capitalize on the full potential of the mobile channel -- moving from basic user functionality to full mobile finance; or, 'Your bank in your pocket.'"