Mobile Banking Updates - July 31

M and T has issued 10 million alerts to customers
"It’s pretty clear: M and T Bank customers want to keep close tabs on their accounts. Last September, the Buffalo bank introduced a dozen customizable account alerts for customers using the M&T mobile banking app. Less than 12 months later, the bank has issued 10 million-plus such alerts via text messages, emails and push notifications, according to an announcement today."

Banks Must Enter Businesses (Seemingly) Unrelated to Banking
"The startup scene offers a glimpse into what the future of banking services will look like (or at least a good chunk of it). The bank of the future will be more personal and tailor-made. Banks today find themselves stuck with legacy technology systems for the simple reason that it's so cumbersome to switch from one provider to another. But banks cannot assume their customers will always suffer from such inertia."

Report: Phone SIMs Are Hackable
"Many phone SIM cards can be hacked to reveal users’ physical location and — in some cases — their mobile banking information, a German security researcher has found. SIMs are the small, removable plastic cards maintain a person’s mobile identity, such as their phone number and which network to which they subscribe. At least 500 million of them, or about one-eighth of worldwide mobile phone users, are also hackable, said Karsten Nohl, founder of the Berlin-based Security Research Labs."

Improvements to Online Bank and Banking App Give Customers Even More Control
"Nationwide customers now have even more control over how they manage their money following a raft of improvements to the Society's digital banking services; its online bank and mobile banking app. The changes come as Nationwide is named "Best Online Banking Provider" and "Best Overall Online Provider" in the Your Money Direct Awards 2013."

Bluepoint Solutions Whitepaper “The Future of Mobile Banking” Explores the Evolution of the Mobile Channel
"Bluepoint Solutions today announced the availability of a new whitepaper entitled, "The Future of Mobile Banking." The paper reflects the drastic growth that has occurred in the mobile channel in the last several years and provides financial institutions with useful information to craft an effective mobile strategy."

'Technology Champions' Tout Digital Services at Mountain America
"At the $3.5 billion Mountain America Credit Union, it’s a snap for members to tap into technology, thanks to 78 specially trained employees that answer questions, give demonstrations and provide hands-on assistance. To promote new products and services such as P2P and mobile deposits, the 419,000-member Utah credit union has staffed each of its 76 branches, along with its service center and education department, with a designated 'technology champion.'"

International Mobile Banking Updates - July 30

Fostering Financial Inclusion with Mobile Banking
"The annual growth rates of mobile phone penetration in the developing world have ranged between 30% and 50% or higher, and penetration has been rapidly increasing. In Africa, mobile phone penetration has exploded during the last ten years. Between 1998 and 2009, Africa witnessed an increase from 0.53 per 100 people to 42.82 per 100 people. At the same time, the average price of a 2G handset decreased from USD 150 in 2003 to USD 75 in 2008. Africa is now considered to be the fastest emergent continent for ICT sector growth."

Mobiles becoming dominant for banks
"The growing love affair smartphone-toting Kiwis have with mobile banking is starting to push the desktop PC into second place. ASB is the first bank to reach a "tipping point" where more than half of all customers' online sessions are now taking place on mobile devices. Head of digital experience and commerce Michael Ramsay said the behavioural shift was one of the biggest and fastest the bank had observed in its 160-year history."

CBN to review mobile banking framework to accommodate telcos
"The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said there may be need to review the mobile banking framework in order to accommodate the telecommunication operators. This is in response to analysts question over non inclusion of telecommunication companies in the mobile banking operational plan by the CBN. Kola Adeyemo, assistant director, payment system policy and oversight division - banking and payment system department, CBN, who said this at the BusinessDay Mobile Money Roundtable in Lagos, also said there was need for these telcos to register subsidiary companies, which would be regulated by the CBN."

M-commerce boom in Zimbabwe
"Online and mobile transactions have for the first time surpassed card payments in Zimbabwe after recording 28,3% growth in the month of May. According to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s May 2013 monthly economic review, the value of mobile and Internet-based transactions rose from US$283,6m in April to $364m in May, while the total value of card-based transactions rose by 1,3% from $328,2m to $332,6m."

ACI Worldwide to power DBS’ IDEAL mobile banking platform in Asia
"Payment and banking system provider ACI Worldwide announced on Tuesday a partnership with DBS to deliver the IDEAL 3.0 regional internet and mobile banking platform to corporate customers in Asia."

IBM Extends Its Banking Tech Expertise Into Emerging Markets
"IBM is extending its expertise in laying the foundation for banking beyond the established world and into emerging countries. A modern, reliable, secure banking system is a basic requirement for economic growth. For emerging economies, developing such a banking system is both a challenge and opportunity; large portions of their populations may not have bank accounts or use banks regularly, creating an impediment to growth and development."

Online banking brings more customers to StanChart
"Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia experienced a tangible growth in the number of its active customers by over 700,000 over the last 12 months through its new digital strategy of online banking. According to its country head of Consumer Banking Sonia Wedrychowicz-Horbatowska, the growth is important for the bank to stay competitive."

Rise in mobile banking predicted
"Experts predict that mobile banking in the Middle East and Africa will jump from 19.8 million users to 82.1 million users by 2017. Over the last five years, the developing world has experienced substantial growth in the adoption of mobile technology. Emerging markets offer not only new possibilities for traditional banking but major potential for transformative banking, said a statement from Gemalto, a leader in digital security."

Westpac soliciting new ideas for mobile banking apps through a competition
"Westpac is spreading its net wide in the search for fresh mobile banking apps by soliciting ideas from outside the bank through a competition. The bank says it will "crowdsource" ideas for mobile banking apps from New Zealand developers and designers. In return they're being offered the carrots of cash and the chance to "take their app to the world." Westpac says the objective of "the Westpac App Challenge" is for developers and designers to use their experience as bank customers, alongside their professional skills, to make a process or service faster and easier via a mobile app."

Swedes snap up mobile banking
"'The number of people who download the mobile app is increasing and they are using it also once its installed. The app is very user friendly,' Handelsbanken press officer Henrik Westman told the TT news agency. With smartphones now the norm major Swedish banks like SEB, Handelsbanken, Nordea and Swedbank have reported that the number of mobile logins is more than online banking via a computer."

Mobile Payments and Wallet - July 28

Visa, Movida, ICICI Bank expand mobile banking services to make India cashless
"Visa Inc. and Monitise’s joint venture, Movida, has partnered with India’s largest bank ICICI Bank to expand its mobile payments service. The mobile payments company launched last December after partnering with India’s second largest bank, HDFC. With the addition of ICICI, Movida will be able to reach more Indian consumers."

The Future of Mobile Payments and Banking
"The role of traditional banks continues to change, and more rapidly than before. Where we once would have had to queue up in a bank on the high street to pay utility bills or withdraw cash to make payments, we can now complete almost all of our transactions online without ever needing to set foot in a branch. So the role of the bank as a venue or outlet has already changed and continues to evolve to ensure it remains a relevant customer channel."

ProfitStars Introduces iPay OneClick Consumer Online Bill Pay and Andiamo, a Fast, Cost Effective Way to Deploy Mobile Services Without Core Integration
"Jack Henry & Associates Inc. (NASDAQ: JKHY) is a leading provider of technology solutions and payment processing services primarily for the financial services industry. Its ProfitStars® division today introduced iPay OneClickTM and AndiamoTM from iPay Solutions™."

Illinois bank will allow Diebold ATM withdrawals via mobile wallet
"An Illinois bank has rolled out a service that will enable customers to use their cellphones to withdraw cash from Diebold ATMs. Mobile Cash Access, from Wintrust Financial Corporation, will use the Paydiant and FIS mobile wallet solution."

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."

Mobile Banking Security - July 24

Easy Solutions Helps Fight Mobile Banking Fraud with Detect Safe Browsing (DSB) 4.0, Now Available for iPhone and Android
"Easy Solutions, the Total Fraud Protection(R) company, today released Detect Safe Browsing (DSB) version 4.0. With DSB 4.0, financial institution can provide an important additional layer of fraud prevention to the end-user, to better protect against malware and other sophisticated threats such as, pharming, man-in-the-middle (MITM) and man-in-the browser (MITB) attacks. With DSB 4.0, Easy Solutions now extends this support to the two most popular mobile platforms: Android and iOS, ensuring that over 90%(1) of mobile users can securely access their mobile banking accounts."

Threat of the Week: Time to Disconnect Android Phones?
"The news could not get worse. A week ago security firm BlueBox announced it had found a “master key” vulnerability – affecting 99% of Android phones – that theoretically would enable a cybercriminal to transform just about any app into malware. On its face, that says almost all Android phones are ticking time bombs and so the rumbling has started that just maybe credit unions and other financial institutions should politely but firmly advise their members to take their Androids elsewhere."

Banks Work Against Fraud Issues with Mobile Check Deposit
"The mobile banking feature that allows customers to deposit checks using their smartphones is now available at many banks and credit unions. Several readers have commented about the potential of fraud and abuse with this service. For example, how will banks prevent scammers from depositing a check into multiple accounts? This American Banker article, Mobile Check Deposit Boom Brings Risks, has an interesting review of the issue."

Banking Criminals Zero in on Cellphones
"Plain facts: more of us are doing a lot more reading of email, surfing of web pages and clicking on text messages on smartphones than ever before - duh. Obvious of course. What is not so obvious is that cybercriminals are connecting the dots, and they are zeroing in on the heightened vulnerabilities that come with reading on a small screen that can be downright peculiar in how legibly it shows text in lighting that is less than perfect."

International Mobile Banking Updates - July 23

Over 80 million people in Middle East and Africa will turn to mobile banking by 2017
"Experts predict that mobile banking in the Middle East and Africa will jump from 19,8 million to 82,1 million users by 2017. Over the last five years the developing world has experienced substantial growth in the adoption of mobile technology. Emerging markets offer not only new possibilities for traditional banking but major potential for transformative banking."

BMI Bank launches mobile banking service
"Bahraini retail and commercial banking institution, BMI Bank recently announced the launch of a new service to help enhance its customers experience when interacting with the Bank. mBanking, the Bank's new mobile banking service, will enable customers to carry out most of their regular banking transactions in a convenient, safe and secure environment simply using their smartphones."

China Mobile and China UnionPay present NFC payments service
"Chinese bank card association China UnionPay and China Mobile, a mobile network operator, have rolled out their NFC payments service in over 14 cities, including Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou in the country. Available for Android devices, customers can send and receive mobile payments at participating merchants equipped with UnionPay QuickPass contactless POS terminals with the help of an NFC SIM card and mobile wallet application, as reported by the Nfcworld.com."

New tax sparks fears for the future of Uganda's mobile banking
"The Ugandan government has levied a 10 percent tax on mobile banking transactions, in a move some have criticized as being short-sighted and potentially harmful to the country's expanding mobile money industry. The country's finance ministry hopes to raise $12m from the mobile banking tax, which went into effect in early July. At least some of this money will come from remittances, which, according to finance minister Maria Kiwanuka, amounted to $767m last year. But the vast majority of mobile banking customers live in Uganda, and faced with rising transaction costs, many are starting to rethink the system altogether. This could spell trouble for Uganda's emerging mobile banking industry and the economic potential it represents."

FNB strides towards mobile banking
"FNB says that 10% of its banking clients accessed its website via a smart device over the past year to June 2013, up from 4% previously. The bank went live with its revamped website on Sunday (14 July 2013), aimed at an improved user experience and a responsive design enabling scalability to multiple devices. 'At least 900,000 clients have accessed FNB.co.za via a smart device and 10% of banking clients are accessing via a smart device…and growing. It was only 4% last year,' FNB CEO of Online Banking Lee-Anne van Zyl told BusinessTech."

Malaysia’s New Mobile Banking Platform: Poised for Success
"Bank Negara Malaysia has recently launched a new mobile payment channel called MyMobile through its wholly owned subsidiary Malaysian Economic Clearing Corporation (MyClear). For the kickoff, MyMobile has teamed up with the country’s three largest banks, CIMB, Maybank and Public Bank, as well as the three largest mobile operators, Maxis, Celcom and DiGi, who collectively represent 93 percent of the country’s market."

Paying mobile dividends, digital payments giving banks a run for their money
"Australia's big four make up a cosy oligopoly without any real competition, say the critics. But now cashed up global giants are muscling in to the mobile payment space. The likes of Apple, Google and PayPal are on the offensive giving consumers and merchants plenty of new options to choose from."

Judge dismisses legal action to shut down Safaricom’s M-Shwari service
"An injunction sought by Faulu Kenya, a Kenyan micro-finance provider, to shut down Safaricom’s M-Shwari mobile banking service – pending the outcome of a court case – has been dismissed by a judge according to local press reports. As part of its push to broaden the range of M-Pesa services, Safaricom launched a banking service last November in partnership with the Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA). Dubbed M-Shwari, which runs on the M-Pesa platform, the service offers loans and interest on deposit accounts."

RBC announces RBC Secure Cloud: The first cloud-based mobile payments solution in Canada
"RBC today announced its RBC Secure Cloud mobile payments service (patent-pending). This new technology, a first in Canada, will allow clients to more safely and securely pay for purchases using their mobile devices. Keeping sensitive client data secure with RBC in the cloud, not on the phone, makes RBC Secure Cloud a safer, faster, more flexible solution. RBC will bring RBC Secure Cloud to market by the end of the year with debit and credit on a number of smartphone platforms."

TD thanks customers for eighth straight J.D. Power Award in customer satisfaction
"A leader in responding to customers evolving needs, TD Canada Trust has built a stellar reputation for exceptional customer service and convenience. Building on its commitment to delivering convenience to Canadians, TD Canada Trust has received the highest ranking in customer satisfaction among the Top Five banks for the eighth straight year by the J.D. Power 2013 Canadian Retail Banking Customer Satisfaction Study(SM). TD Canada Trust performs well in all seven factors, including channel activities; account information; facilities; product offerings; fees; financial advisor; and problem resolution."

Mobile Banking Updates - July 21

Future Mobile Awards - Winners Announced for Mobile Commerce
"Companies at the forefront of new developments in Mobile Commerce have been honoured in this year’s Juniper Research Future Mobile Awards."

Ad Lab: Banking Billboards, Print Ads And Outdoor Galore
"Here are two more excellent examples further illustrating the powerful relationship between that can be forged between outdoor marketing messages and their environmental context. In the first example from Palmetto Bank, you have to look closely to realize that it is actually a branch entrance in disguise — visitors have to walk right through the bank’s mobile app (quite a metaphor, if you think about it)."

We're witnessing the fastest ever shift in banking
"This week we're celebrating 5 years of the Apple App store (see Wired's commentary.) The realization that in 5 years mobile and apps have had such a huge impact on banking, can not be understated. Of course, there were many in the financial services space that were massively skeptical of the iPhone and Apps when they first launched in 2007. My favorite quotes come from a January 14th, 2007 article on Bloomberg, that contain the following gems:"

Diebold working on cardless ATM project
"Smartphones could replace the plastic card when stopping at the automated teller machine. Diebold has begun fitting ATMs for Wintrust Financial Corp., based in Lake Forest, Ill., so customers can make cash withdrawals using a smartphone. The test project has Diebold working with Paydiant, a company that provides cloud-based mobile payment services for banks and merchants. Wintrust is working with Fidelity National Information Services on the pilot program."

Mobile Banking on the Rise
"Banking has gone mobile. With over half of all American adults, about 56%, sporting smart phones, banks and other financial management tools have quickly adapted their systems to be compatible, secure and easy to use on mobile devices. Many smart phone users have already made the change from traditional to mobile banking and according to Consultants at the Aite Group, the number of people banking on their phones will triple by the year 2016."

Banks struggle to keep up with mobile demand
"While banks all have a mobile banking app, their clients are still pushing for more and more mobile capabilities. So says Mary Monahan, executive vice president and research director for Javelin Strategy & Research, a California company that rates banks on their mobile offerings. She says that many tech-savvy customers still 'cannot open accounts via smartphone, make payments, or deposit checks by snapping photos of them.'"