Mobile Banking Updates - Nov 1

U.S. Bank Unveils Windows Phone Mobile Banking App
"U.S. Bank today became the latest bank to offer mobile banking apps for the Windows Phone. The Minneapolis-based bank said it has developed two apps for the phone -- one through U.S. Bank's Wealth Management division and the other through U.S. Bank Retail Payment Solutions. The apps, featured in the Windows Phone Store, are free and provide consumers with access to market and economic insights, as well as access to an instant credit application for the U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card."

Wincor Nixdorf Introduces Software to Bridge Mobile Banking and ATMs
"ATM manufacturer Wincor Nixdorf has joined competitors Diebold and NCR in producing a smartphone app meant to help consumers to save time at the ATM. The company, which is based in Austin, Tex., said Wednesday users can download the application, dubbed PC/EMobile Cash, to their smartphones, where it will allow them to find nearby ATMs and stage cash withdrawals and other transactions in advance."

Mobile Capture Comes To Small CUs
"The hot must-have technology in banking today has to be mobile remote-deposit capture, software that lets members take a photo of a check with a smartphone camera and, presto, it’s deposited into their account. The big rub thus far is that smaller credit unions have complained that mobile RDC is priced out of their budgets. But the news is that, suddenly, prices are getting pushed down, and an upshot is that a growing number of smaller financial institutions can now woo their members with the latest technology."

IS MOBILE BANKING TRULY MOBILE?
"There has been a transition in acceptance pertaining to mobile banking, but is it mainstream? Mainstream implies ubiquitous acceptance. In addition, mobile banking apps, from a technology standpoint are standalone, meaning that mobile banking is a separate and independent product interfaced only with the core banking application using a real-time interface."

A Shot in the Arm from Mobile Remote Deposit Capture
"Numerica Credit Union recently held what amounts to a happy hour at its branches, except instead of cocktails, people were given $5 checks and shown how to use phones to deposit those checks. The Spokane Valley, Wash., credit union was demonstrating mobile remote deposit capture (RDC), and has found that via marketing and education, the new tech can have a quick impact on business. Nearly 500 members used the service in the first month. These users deposited 928 items that came to a total of $303,000."

Mobile banking white paper offers strategies
"A new white paper offers consumers and businesses--including credit unions--information to support a mobile banking strategy, along with key trends, mobile banking best practices, and how to confront the biggest developmental challenges. "For a variety of reasons mobile banking has moved way beyond simple balance inquiries to include money transfers, both domestic and international; peer-to-peer payments; and even commercial payment processing," said the paper, "The Promise of Mobility: A Bank in Every Pocket." The paper is from Backbase, a New York-based mobile banking provider."

Viewpoint: Mobile Banking's Fraud Problems - Ori Eisen

"With every new banking technology comes new security implications and threats.

Consumers are increasingly coming around to the idea of mobile banking, especially with the enhanced number of services being offered via handsets, including financial information services, funds transfer, bill payment and presentation, account management and customer service. At the same time, banks are faced with enhancing their security measures to help address a serious consumer concern — how safe is it to use mobile banking?

Though some argue that mobile banking can be more secure than its Internet equivalent since no data is typically held on the phone itself, security experts and consumers are expressing concerns. Skeptics have good reason to be apprehensive." >> Continue Reading

Mobile Banking Updates - Dec 2nd

Absa Launches New Mobile Service
"A new mobile service to bring greater control and convenience to millions of its clients, has been launched by the largest retail banking group - Absa. Over 3.5 million Absa clients using the SMS messaging service, NotifyMe, can now request instant balance enquiries and statements, as well as purchase prepaid cellular airtime, from their cellular handset."

Citizens Bank of Canada Launches Mobile Solution
"Have you ever found yourself standing in line to purchase something and wanted to check your bank balance? Now you can through text messaging from your mobile phone. Introducing Mobile Banking with BANKCB."

Can You Hear Us Now? Mobile Carriers Eye Financial Revenue
"As bankers continue to roll out services for mobile phones, wireless carriers are trying to find ways to earn more revenue from the financial activities moving through their systems."

Cell Phone Payments Make the World Easier For Terrorists, Too
"The Reuters article said little about the downside of the new technology. But terrorist financing experts in and outside government have long been worried that the mobile payment development is outpacing regulators' and law enforcement's ability to detect and prevent use by terrorists."

Alltel Wireless, mFoundry Partner for Alltel Wallet
"Alltel Wireless, will leverage the extensible mobile wallet platform from mFoundry (San Francisco) to create the Alltel Wallet, which will initially provide access to a consolidated mobile banking experience, providing customers with access to a wide variety of U.S. financial institutions."

Economy Puts Mobile Marketing on Hold
"If all went according to plan the day after Thanksgiving, JC Penney customers were roused with a wake-up call. The service was provided free as part of a Black Friday mobile marketing push. Consumers had been invited to come to JCP.com to sign up for the call, SMS shopping tips and sales alerts. This is a prime example of how this much-hyped marketing channel is helping companies like JC Penney, Subway and Coca-Cola court consumers through their cell phones and PDAs. The only problem: The economy is in free fall, leaving some marketers leery of dumping dollars into an unproven medium."

The Mobile Banking Opportunity for Small Businesses - Are Banks Listening?
"Small businesses want mobile banking services. Approximately one-third of those interviewed expressed a likelihood that they will use mobile banking."

Mobile Banking - Browser Myths Debunked

Late last week I read an article on "Mobile Banker" titled "In New Mobile Model, Carriers Welcome Many Bank Partners." The article was very well written and outlined the differing opinions on the future of the mobile landscape. However, there was one topic that I'd like to discuss in further detail and that is - browser based mobile banking solutions.

For years this solution has been shunned as slow, unsecure and impossible to develop because of rendering. However, I'm here to unequivocally state that those are myths. Now, I'm not going to speculate on the source of such "tales" but I do believe that they are meant to scare bankers. After all, who benefits if a bank spends just a few bucks to develop an in-house browser solution? That's right - the banks do.

So lets take just a moment to debunk each of the rumors individually.

Security
Lets first tackle the issue of security, because after all it is priority #1. For those new to the space let me begin by clarifying that modern day browser applications are not WAP applications. In fact, you might be surprised to know that the code is actually xhtml which is a fancy way of saying, "the same code that runs your online banking solution." Now, if anyone would like to claim that online banking is not secure we can go down that path, but the discussion would likely end with the topic of Reg E, which interestingly enough, also covers all mobile banking solutions. Additionally, you should now that browser solutions are not simply built and launched. They are subject to the very same safety and security reviews as every other electronic channel and they pass with flying colors.

Speed
Next, lets analyze the speed of a browser solution against a downloadable application and an SMS solution. For this test I'll reference the videos on YouTube that show a step by step balance request utilizing two of the most successful vendors in the market. The results of the test are as follows:

Time to Conduct a Balance Inquiry
Downloadable (Firethorn) - 1:03
SMS (Clairmail) - :32 seconds
Browser (Bank of America) - :58 seconds

Rendering
The final myth is that browser applications can not render properly across the thousands of handset/carrier/browser combinations. This one is simple to refute - it's simply not true. Design for the lowest common denominator and your done.

Finally, to drive home the fact that browser based solutions are popular and are taking hold I'll reference the 276 sites on cantoni.mobi where you can sample just a fraction of the existing browser solutions on the market today.

Mobile Banking Research

Recently, there have been a couple of interesting tid-bits from the research community.

Just this morning, there was an article in the American Banker titled "Web Seen Most Effective to Keep Young Customers" by Daniel Wolfe. In the article Mr. Wolfe shares that a recent report from Celent found that, "...60% of college students have decided to keep their current banking relationship after graduating...and that the Internet played a large role in their decision."

Additionally, the article references a discussion with Ilieva Ageenko (e-commerce director at Wachovia) where she states, "the young generation's appetite for immediate access was greater than Wachovia was able to satisfy, even by extending its services to mobile phones. For example Wachovia can give daily balance updates by text message, but its younger customers wanted intraday updates as well."

This is yet more proof that simple alerts will not be enough to satisfy the "on demand" mentality of our clients. Financial institutions must utilize a mobile offering so that the Gen Y, Gen X, and even the progressive Boomers can access their information any time - any where.



The second interesting development is from Javelin Strategy & Research. Just yesterday, I received a promotional email about the "Mobile Reports Triple Pack." The research contains three separate reports and covers the primary topics on everyone's mind: Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments, and Mobile Banking Security. While I haven't yet read them I hope to do so very soon, and while $3000 is not cheap it does save $600 off the individual price.