Mobile Banking on YouTube

Check it out - here are a few demos posted on YouTube.

mFoundry

Firethorn

Clairmail

I can't say for sure, but from the screen, font, and buttons it looks just like my Razor and based on the speed it's most likely not 3G.

Citi - Mobile Banking Television Spot

It's official ... mobile banking is now being promoted by Citi via a 30 second television spot. Unfortunately, Citi isn't quite as integrated in their marketing as Apple so the spots are not posted on their website, but here's the premise. A husband and wife are in the car when she realizes that they forgot to make the car payment. She whips out her phone, clicks a few buttons, and...done. Overall, it's cute spot - they work in a couple lines about it being the final payment and are scared that car will far apart (and the rear-view mirror falls from the roof). However, the most critical element here is that we have a bank with deep pockets spending BIG BUCKS (i.e. ABC - Prime Time Programming) to promote the mobile service - this is GOOD!

I just found the Citi Mobile spot on YouTube. This is much better than my explanation above.

Wal-Mart and Mobile Banking?

Recently there was an article in the New York Times titled: At Wal-Mart, a Back Door into Banking. You can click the link to read the full article, but the "cliff-notes" version is that Wal-Mart is going to continue to provide financial services even if the federal regulators won't let them own a bank.

In case you weren't already aware Wal-Mart currently offers: credit cards, investment services, check printing, and credit report services. The most recent news is that Wal-Mart is going to begin offering a prepaid debit card targeted at the "un-banked." However, the sentence that really caught my attention is that they plan to, "allow them to check their balances online or on mobile phone, pay certain bills or withdraw cash from A.T.M.’s." (New York Times - Barbaro and Dash 6/21/07)

The big question I want to know is, "what will there mobile service look like?" Which solution will they go with? I would almost certainly think they'd utilize a vendor - but which one? Keep an eye on this one because the vendor that scores this account will have tremendous resources at their disposal.

Mobile Banking - Test and Monitor

I just had an "Ah - Ha" moment and wanted to share it with the group. I've been researching the mobile banking space for some time now and admittedly the focus of my energy has been on the design and implementation of the service. However, I knew in the back of my mind there was an important task that I had not yet figured out - testing and monitoring. I assumed (which always scares me) that there was a vendor that could help, but had not identified any of the players - until now. I just finished a Webinar, put on by Foreward Financial, and learned something very interesting from Manny Gonzalez (Keynote - Senior Director of Mobile Technologies). Keynote has a number of tools and services that can help financial institutions to, "independently test and monitor your mobile content, applications, and services on real devices across multiple mobile operator networks around the world." (Keynote.com) Check it out...

News in Mobile Banking

There are a couple of interesting articles that I'd like to bring to your attention.

The first is a post by Jim Bruene on his blog - Mobile Money & Banking. Jim was able to attend the inaugural Mobile Commerce Summit put on by SourceMedia earlier this week, and in his post Jim mentions a number of interesting findings. One in particular that was disappointing to see was the area he titled "Most discouraging stat" Check it out...

The second is by Steve Bills in today's edition of the American Banker. I won't go into specifics but it discusses a number of positive findings related to the testing that Bancorp South has recently performed (i.e. utilizing the Firethorn product). Login to American Banker to read the full story or be sure to grab the paper edition.

Mobile Banking Security

In order to facilitate the growth and development of mobile banking we as an industry must take care of "job one" which is providing a safe and secure channel for our clients. With that in mind here is a new product from Tyfone called rhapsody. Read more...

New Booz-Allen-Hamilton Research

If you haven't seen it yet check out the new research findings from Booz-Allen-Hamilton. Specifically, I'll point to the section titled "Multichannel Integration, Only Where it Matters" where the report states, "A limited number of banks are offering all major channels with extras such as Skype and SMS, mobile phone banking, and special channels for the deaf. However, overall performance is weak, with even the best-in-class banks failing to achieve excellence in this area." Booz-Allen-Hamilton "Striving for Growth" by Alan Gemes, Fabienne Konik, Caroline Moss