Mobile Banking Updates - Nov 28

Stay with Me: Mobile Pay System Ties Buyers to One Card
"With sponsorship from Citigroup Inc., Billing Revolution Inc. is trying to help convert people who window-shop on their mobile phones into paying customers. In December the Seattle vendor plans to roll out a service that will let consumers make purchases with a mobile phone without having to enter their payment card details for every purchase. That step causes many mobile shoppers to abandon transactions they've started."

Mobile Banking Apps crashing on iOS 4.2.1
"My Mobile Banking app crashes after I updated to 4.2.1 Anyone else have this problem?"

Chase Mobile app for Android: Deposit checks with your cameraphone
"A handful of banks and PayPal have allowed iPhone users to deposit checks by scanning the front and back with the phone’s camera for a while. Now that feature is finally starting to make its way to Android phones, thanks to a new app from Chase."

Tyfone Receives Additional Patent for Cutting-Edge Mobile Electronic Wallet Technology
"Tyfone (www.tyfone.com), a global provider of unified mobile money and secure transaction infrastructure for mobile banking, mobile identity management, and mobile contactless NFC payments, today announced the award of its newest patent for the company’s innovative mobile electronic wallet technology."

Mobile Money Service Comes to Haiti With "TchoTcho Mobile" From Digicel and Scotiabank
"Digicel and Scotiabank today launched their mobile money product in Haiti.
TchoTcho Mobile allows Haitians to complete basic banking functions such as cash withdrawals, deposits and transfers safely and securely through their mobile phone and does not require them to have a traditional bank account.
During the first three months, the program will offer up to 20,000 users the ability to do cash withdrawal and deposits, domestic money transfer to another mobile user, purchase top-up and manage their TchoTcho Mobile account."

CellTrust Secure SMS Continues to be Secure, While Many Wireless Banks' Apps Were Exposed to Security Flaws
"CellTrust Corporation, the recognized leader in mobile secure messaging and secure applications for mobile phones (www.celltrust.com), today announced that CellTrust's mobile banking product, which is being piloted outside of the U.S., is based on SecureSMS Secure Mobile information management (SMIM) architecture and is not affected by security flaws that were recently published in a Wall Street Journal article."

Mobile Banking Updates - Nov 21

Nielsen: 13% Mobile Banking
"Only a small portion of U.S. consumers are banking via mobile phone, but that group is starting to grow to become a measurable presence, according to a new study from Nielsen. The research firm found that 13.2% of households accessed their bank account through a mobile device in second quarter 2010 compared 20.8% who accessed their account using the bank’s customer service call center. The mobile share is up from 11.6% in first quarter while call center access has remained relatively flat quarter-over-quarter."

Citi to invest in mobile and online to attract affluent customers
"Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C - News) plans to spend $3 billion to $4 billion on its consumer bank to attract more business from its wealthy, urban customers, the head of its North American consumer bank said on Wednesday."

ClairMail’s hiring points to eventual IPO
"Let’s start with that last item, which brings us to ClairMail, a San Rafael, Calif. start-up with a name we don’t quite understand but a business that’s easy to grok. And why should you care about them? Because start-up companies that want to get ready for the public markets need to grow in three primary metrics: customers, revenue and employees. It also helps to have a team of executives which has already taken a company through the maturation process.

If you’re looking for the next wave of IPO candidates flying low on the radar, start with companies that are adding big customers, hiring lots of workers and bringing in seasoned executives."

GoMo News discover mobile 419 scam, maybe
"By fluke, GoMo News just might have stumble across a mobile version of the Nigeria 419 money scam. 419 being the area code you’re asked to call in Nigeria. In this case, the fraudster appears to want to get hold of our mobile phone number and ask for our help. Perhaps we are being too suspicious or can one of our readers explain how the scam – involving MTN‘s Mobile Money banking – service might work?“This is what the original email said, “I opened an account with MTN mobile money last week on Tuesday 2nd/11/2010 and I saved 50,000 on that account.” Notice the currency isn’t mentioned."

Chase Mobile Banking App Coming To Android Early December
"Turns out that a teller at a Chase Bank location leaked out that the Chase Mobile App will be making its way to the Android Market in “early December”. This comes as great news to many Android owners who bank with Chase, as we’ve seen the nice features the Chase app is capable of on iOS."

Banking Challenges Posed by Internet
"'There are at least a couple challenges created by mobile-phone activity,' says Greg Rattray, the new head of security for BITS, a division of The Financial Services Roundtable.

Rattray, who joined BITS in September, says as more financial transactions and channels such as mobile emerge, Internet strains and security have to be addressed. 'The thing that we're increasingly concerned about is the nature of these (mobile) devices,' he says, 'and whether they can be properly secured so that we can enable people to use mobile banking.'"

Names You Need To Know in 2011: Mobile Money
"Mobile Money. Mobile Commerce. It’s so new it’s too early to say what name will ultimately stick, but over the next year we’re going to be hearing a lot more about our ability to zap funds between one-another without the shackles of coins, paper bills, plastic cards or checks."

Monitise to form joint venture with Best Buy Europe and Charles Dunstone
"Monitise plc, a UK-based provider of mobile banking and payments solutions, has agreed to form a joint venture to setup Mobile Money Network with Best Buy Europe Distributions Limited and Charles Dunstone to deliver mobile marketing and payments network. Both Monitise and Best Buy Europe are based in the UK."

Mobile Banking Updates - Nov 18

Smartphones lead the way as mobile bank apps boom
"National Australia Bank says it has experienced a 200 per cent growth in mobile banking usage since May. Commonwealth Bank's mobile banking transactions represent 9 per cent, or about 1.5 million, of all monthly online transactions. ANZ Bank has about 10 per cent, or 195,000 customers, who do their banking on smartphones compared with its 1.95 million active online net banking users."

U.S. Bank Expands Mobile Capabilities with Innovative New Visa Payment Solution
"U.S. Bank and Visa continue to be at the forefront of mobile payments innovation, partnering with DeviceFidelity, FIS and Monitise to introduce an innovative new way for customers to make purchases using their mobile phone. Customers can simply wave their phone in front of a Visa payWave contactless payment terminal in order to pay. U.S. Bank is one of the first major card issuers in the United States to pilot this landmark technology as employees in multiple states will begin testing this month. Plans are underway to introduce it to select customers next year."

Mobile Wallet - Nov 16

Next Android Version Includes E-Wallet for Real World Purchases
"Android 2.3, codenamed Gingerbread, will be released in a “few weeks,” Schmidt said on stage at the Web 2.0 Summit conference in San Francisco. Schmidt showed off how so-called Near Field Communication would work using an unnamed smartphone he called an unannounced product. Using the software from Android and a NFC chip in the phone, Schmidt was able to “check in” to the conference, launching Google Maps, by touching the phone to a conference sign that had a built-in antenna."

U.S. Carriers Create Pay-By-Phone System, for Real This Time
"You know that thing where you just tap your credit card to pay for stuff at the store? That functionality will be coming to smartphones in the U.S., this time apparently for real, via a national phone payment network called Isis, spearheaded by AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

Besides negating the need to pull out your credit card, the "mobile wallet" in your phone is planned to incorporate reward cards, coupons, tickets, and transit passes. Isis will use near-field communication (NFC) technology to make payments. NFC encrypts data for very short-range transmission – a matter of inches. When you need to pay, just launch the Isis app, wave your phone over the machine and you've paid up."

Does iWallet iPhone mean Apple versus PayPal?
"We've talked before about Apple's plans for the iPhone as an iWallet, now it looks like former ally turned foe, Google's preparing to take Apple on in the same space, with big boss Eric Schmidt telling a panel at the Web 2.0 conference his company feels its got to get NFC (Near Field Communication) into Android's life. Will PayPal endure the new war?"

Mobile Banking Updates - Nov 14

RDM and MShift partner to enable remote deposit capture for mobile banking
"RDM Corporation (TSX: RC | PowerRating), a Canadian developer of software and hardware products for electronic payment processing, said on Tuesday that it is enabling remote deposit capture capability for mobile banking under a partnership with MShift Inc, a provider of mobile banking solutions for financial institutions."

Orange rolls out money transfer service
"The launch makes Orange the fourth mobile phone operator to launch a money transfer service and is set to intensify competition in the industry as operators move to data in the wake of declining voice revenues. The partnership between Orange and Equity Bank is geared towards creating synergies between the two that enhances money transfer as well as mobile banking."

Latin Americas Mobile Banking Revolution
"New forecasts from ABI Research indicate that in 2015 about 244 million people worldwide will carry out financial transactions using their mobile phones. This growth in the financial cell phone sector is not specific to North America or Europe, and large investment is anticipated in regions like Latin America."

Mobile Business Banking Draws More Attention
"With mobile access now widely accepted as a consumer channel, more banks are turning their attention to businesses. Citizens Financial Group Inc., the Providence, R.I., parent of RBS Citizens and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania, on Monday announced the availability of a new application for Apple Inc.'s iPhone for its treasury management customers called accessMOBILE."

M&T Bank Launches a New App for iPhone
"M&T Bank customers now have three ways to securely access their accounts using their mobile devices: Mobile Text Banking; Mobile Web Banking; and a brand new App for iPhone(R). The M&T Mobile Banking application for iPhone(R) is now available, at no charge, by clicking the App Store button on an Apple(R) mobile device and searching for 'M&T.'"

PNC Introduces Mobile Banking For Financial Executives
"PNC unveiled on November 8 PINACLE Mobile that enables financial executives to review balances and approve basic transactions in a secure environment using their mobile phones. PINACLE Mobile is a complementary channel to PNC's online banking portal for corporate customers known as PINACLE. "

Mobile is a must for financial institutions: study
"A new study finds that almost half of the top 100 financial institutions offer mobile banking services. Surprisingly, this activity is not concentrated among the top 25 or even top 50 banks, with many smaller banks actively utilizing vendor capabilities to offer mobile services. Of the top 100, 43 percent offer access via mobile Web, while 32 percent offer SMS banking and alerts and 32 percent offer applications."

Standard Chartered Bank Expects Migration To Mobile Banking
"Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd expects a significant migration of its internet banking customers towards mobile banking solutions in future, with the introduction of its latest solution, Breeze.
Head of Retail Banking Products, Consumer Banking, Anupam Shrivastava said this is in line with the increasing technology savvy customers in Malaysia, especially with mobile banking showing a significant progress of 178 per cent growth from 2007 to 2009."

Mobile Banking Security

Banks Rush to Fix Security Flaws in Wireless Apps
"A number of top financial companies and banks such as Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America Corp. and USAA are rushing out updates to fix security flaws in wireless banking applications that could allow a computer criminal to obtain sensitive data like usernames, passwords and financial information."

Our Mobile-Banking Warnings about Security Prove Prophetic
"Not to be gauche, but in 2009 you saw the Internet security warning here first. Mobile banking is so risky an IT security guru said don’t do it. That was the online security warning on Sept. 7 from the authoritative Dr. Stan Stahl of Citadel Information Group in Los Angeles. Dr. Stahl’s analysis in my column included this stern warning: 'All in all, cell phone on-line banking is a big NO!!!'”

How Vulnerable Are Mobile Apps?
"Late last week, security firm viaForensics announced it had discovered security vulnerabilities in mobile banking smart-phone apps for Google's Android and Apple's iPhone. Apps from Bank of America, Chase, TD Ameritrade, USAA, Wells Fargo and Vanguard were all targeted by the firm. "

USAA's Mobile Banking: Security is a Top Priority
"The Wall Street Journal has reported potential security issues with some of the latest mobile banking applications. A digital forensics firm, viaForensics, collaborating with The Journal, tested banking apps from at least seven financial institutions. viaForensics found that USAA's Mobile App on the iPhone® passed all tests and is secure. However, viaForensics identified a potential vulnerability within USAA's application on the Android™."

Mobile Banking Updates - Nov 10

Smartphone apps popular but vulnerable
"Interest rates aside, the new battleground for Australia’s banks is mobile banking, with financial institutions falling over one another in the race to deliver new apps for different mobile computer platforms such as the iPad and smartphones. Speakers at the 5th Future of Banking and Financial Services conference, held in Sydney last week, repeatedly stressed the growing importance of mobile banking."

Citizens Financial Group Announces Launch of accessMOBILE, Landmark Mobile Banking Application for Business Customers
"Citizens Financial Group, Inc. today announced that it is launching accessMOBILE, a mobile banking application that for the first time empowers Citizens Bank and Charter One business customers to manage their cash and payments from a mobile device."

Redstone Federal Credit Union rolls out mobile banking service
"Redstone Federal Credit Union has rolled out their new “Mobile Banking” service. This is an SMS Text messaging service that will allow you to do things like check your balance and get previous transaction amounts. The only drawback to the previous transactions command is that it only lists dates and amounts, no point of sale description or information."

ING finds mobile branch-in-pocket builds brand engagement, customer loyalty
"An executive of banking giant ING Direct USA said that mobile helps its customers interact with the brand while on the go and supports its overall mission of saving consumers time and money. This summer ING Direct and its brokerage subsidiary ING ShareBuilder launched mobile applications available on various device platforms, including Google’s Android, Research In Motion’s BlackBerry and Apple’s iPhone, iPod touch and iPad."