CO-OP Financial Services Readying Mobile Card Controls Technology for Credit Union Members

"Once used primarily for balance inquiries, mobile banking and payments now encompass an ever-growing variety of financial transactions. Consumers today have the ability to make direct person-to-person payments and conveniently access all their accounts via a smartphone. The ever-expanding use and feature set of mobile devices presents financial institutions with challenges to keep up with consumer demands, particularly for greater individual control of services." Continue Reading

Mobile Banking Updates - April 25

Refi Party Is Over, Mobile Money Party Is Just Beginning
"Mobile Money: Anglocentric coverage in today's FT. "For prospective employees mobile banking could prove one bright spot for pay and prospects in the sector," says one story. "Retail banks are expecting mobile banking to be the area where the most roles will be created this year, ahead of branch and internet banking." Another article looks at the competitive threat to incumbent U.K. financial institutions from nonbanks selling phone apps, prepaid debit cards, etc. "Banks will have a hard time coming down and playing in this space because of their regulators," a payments industry lawyer tells the FT. Sound familiar?"

4 tips for finding the best mobile banking
"Mobile banking use is exploding, and banks are quickly adding new services. Last year, 10 million more people signed up for mobile banking, according to Javelin Strategy & Research in Pleasanton, Calif., driven by soaring smartphone and tablet use. And, one-third of the U.S. population is now tapping into mobile banking, versus one-fifth in 2010. But mobile services vary widely. Here's the mobile banking landscape you're likely to encounter and how to choose the best bank and apps for you. Big banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America and Citi have led the charge, offering the most robust mobile banking technology, says Mary Monahan, Javelin's research director of mobile. And they consistently head the class in mobile banking service quality rankings, though regional banks are also quickly adding mobile services."

CO-OP Introduces Mobile App for iPad
"Credit union clients of CO-OP Financial Services are now able to offer their members a mobile banking app for the iPad tablet. The new app will let members account balances and cash flow charts that summarize debit and credit activity; account history; transfers; and GPS-enabled access to CO-OP Network ATM or CO-OP Shared Branching locations, the payment CUSO said. In addition, the app enables each credit union to customize with member access to their own hosted web pages for loan/account opening services, rates and promotions; or social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube."

Regions online banking goes down due to "network issue"
"Many Regions Bank customers were without online banking access Monday after what the company calls an 'intermittent network issue.' The bank said in a statement on their Facebook Monday they are experiencing a network issue which is impacting some customer's ability to access their website. Those wishing to access the company's website, Regions.com, were taken to a Network Solutions backorder domain website. 'I've been trying to log on off and on since this morning and it is a different page and says the domain no longer exists. I didn't type any info in because I was afraid I'd be hacked,' says Leanne Eldridge."

Wells Fargo's Big Idea: Shrinking Branch Office
"Can neighborhood bank branch offices works smarter, and not harder? Oh, and can they work smaller, too? Wells Fargo (WFC) aims to find out starting this month. The San Francisco banking giant opened a branch Monday in Washington, D.C., that is one-third the size of the usual and comes well-stocked with such features as mobile banking, new ATMs and image-based bank deposits."

Mobile Banking Updates - Apr 14

Bank Online – Integration Of Mobile Deposit Into Mobile Banking Choices Launched
"Mitek Systems Inc. reported today that the company and its channel partners signed 26 new agreements with banks, credit unions and other financial institutions — including two more of the nation’s top 10 retail banks — to deploy its leading mobile remote deposit capture (RDC) application, Mobile Deposit®, during its second quarter, which ended March 31."

Dakota Territory FCU Goes Live With CO-OP Mobile
"Dakota Territory Federal Credit Union, based in Deadwood, S.D., is now offering CO-OP Mobile to its 3,400 members, providing them with mobile banking access, no matter what type of mobile device they own. 'We are already participating in CO-OP Shared Branching services, so this was the next logical step for us,' said Floyd Rummel, President/CEO, Dakota Territory FCU. 'The whole process of going on-line was very smooth, easy and painless.'"

Mobile Banking Updates - Oct 14

Co-op Model Puts Mobile Banking in Reach of CUs
"Eaton Family Credit Union had been interested in deploying mobile banking for some time, but its initial research into the technology turned out to be little more than expensive window-shopping. 'It was just way beyond our means,' said Fred Siegel, a business development manager for the 11,000-member Cleveland-area credit union, which has about $39 million of assets. So instead of buying an expensive software product, Eaton Family opted for a cooperative application from the credit union service provider Co-op Financial Services."

E-Payments: Telcos Not Trying To Get Into Banking; Transaction Cost
"Speaking at the IAMAI symposium on Financial Inclusion through mobile phones, Pallab Mitra, Head (Mobile Commerce) at Bharti Airtel repeated multiple times that the telecom operator is not interested in taking on the role of banks, rather, wants to work with banks. “We don’t have the wherewithal. A telecom operator will facilitate the ability for a common man to get a bank account with his expertise. We’re not trying to get into banking."

Monitise Americas Chosen as a 2009 Mobile Excellence Award Finalist
"Monitise Americas, LLC, a leading mobile banking and payments provider, is today setting its sight on a prestigious Mobile Excellence Award for Best Mobile Innovator, which honors the company that has proven to be the most progressive or launched the most groundbreaking product/service/model."

ClairMail Posts Record Revenue Growth in Third Quarter
"ClairMail, Inc., the leader in mobile banking and payment solutions, today announced that it has posted another 200 percent year-over-year revenue increase for the third quarter ending September 2009. Due to another record quarter and the company's unmatched roster of financial institution customers, ClairMail has also increased its mobile banking reach to more than 50 percent of the United States population. ClairMail had previously announced a record number of new customers and a 200 percent year-over-year revenue increase for the second quarter of 2009."

Mobile Banking Updates - Feb 15

INSIDE Contactless Working With Qualcomm to Accelerate NFC Mobile Handset Rollouts
"'This alliance is significant not only for our MicroRead NFC solution, but for NFC technology and the mobile payments market in general. We believe the availability of these reference designs will provide a significant boost to the deployment of NFC-enabled 3G handsets worldwide,' said Rémy de Tonnac, chief executive officer of INSIDE Contactless. 'We look forward to creating these reference designs with Qualcomm and contributing our expertise and ideas to further the development of the emerging NFC ecosystem.'"

Symbian Foundation recruits more supporters
"The not-for-profit organisation - which has been set up to unify Symbian, S60, UIQ and MOAP(S) software; and administer, oversee and develop the resulting Symbian mobile OS in its altered open source state - has added a further 14 voices of support to its endeavour. These include Bank of America, HP, MySpace, Qualcomm and SanDisc."

UK government throws more money at banking (this time it's mobile)
"The International Development Secretary will set out how modern technology is transforming the way banks work in the 21st century and explain that this could benefit the developing world most, with people gaining access to financial services for the first time ever."

Co-Op Financial Services unveils mobile banking, contactless card payments solutions
"CO-OP Financial Services is now offering credit unions a turnkey entry into mobile banking and contactless card payments, according to a news release. CO-OP announced its mobile banking offering in Oct. 2008, with the selection of mFoundry's financial services platform to deliver mobile banking offerings to credit unions via a downloadable client application."

Mobile Banking: Fact or Fiction?
"It doesn't take much imagination to see how mobile phones can improve the way we manage money and make payments...This leads me to my next point: Haven't we been here before? Didn't customers already tell us they are not interested in mobile banking?"

Mobile money in tough times: still a good bet for operators?
"The global economy is sliding. The OECD predicts 2009 will be the worst year for the world economy since 1974. The mobile industry is already feeling the effects. Operator revenues grew by 5% in 2008, down nearly half from 2009, and are expected to soften further to 4.5% in 2009, according to Wireless Intelligence. And this is on top of the continual slide in ARPU (average revenue per user) which emerging market operators have seen for several years, as they pick up customers who are now disproportionately lower income. What does mean for mobile financial services?"