Mobile Banking Updates - July 2

Pay-what-you-want GoBank puts mobile users first
"A new player has emerged at the forefront of mobile banking with the hopes of capturing the nation's youngest banking audience and setting the tone for what it means to bank virtually. Launched to the public on Tuesday, GoBank is the first bank designed specifically for mobile use. All functionality is available through its app, everything from opening your account to paying bills to managing your budget."

Mobile Banking Activity Rose in May
"Along with temperatures in most parts of the country, mobile banking activity continued to increase in May. The overall value of American Banker's Mobile Banking Intensity Index was 73.8 for that month, a significant increase over April's value of 70.4. Many of the bankers surveyed for the index said adoption of mobile banking continues to grow as more customers become comfortable with it."

First Data Survey: Smartphones Are Shaping Mobile Banking
"If credit unions need more evidence about the importance of offering mobile banking, another study concludes that consumers want it all--in the palm of their hand. Consumers expect strikingly similar mobile and technology-powered experiences from financial institutions and businesses, and their expectations are fueled by skyrocketing smartphone use, according to a new study from Atlanta-based First Data."

Banking on smartphones
"When online banking first came on the scene it heralded a new era where customers could check their balance and pay their bills any time, day or night. A few banks integrated it immediately into their strategy, others felt compelled to set up a separate brand, as if they were afraid of it themselves. In the end it became a normal part of everyday life. But 24 hr banking is no longer enough."

ING Direct unveils new mobile banking app
"Online bank ING Direct has updated its mobile banking capabilities with a new app that lets users view their balances across all accounts before logging in, and transfer money to anyone in Australia with email or SMS notifications. The new ING Mobile Banking app, developed by local tech firm Oakton, Deloitte Digital and ING, was created by rebuilding a native mobile banking application and the related backend services. The goal of the rebuild was to improve app usability, security and performance based on customer feedback, according to ING."

Mobile Banking Updates - Nov 18

PayAnywhere jumps into mobile-payment ring
"Square is on a roll, and PayPal's triangular device is gaining momentum. But a new national mobile-payment service thinks it has enough game to disrupt the fledgling market. In the past year, Detroit-based PayAnywhere has quietly amassed a formidable retail network — Walmart, Home Depot, Amazon, OfficeMax, Sam's Club, Sears and Kmart are among its partners — to sell its $9.95 mobile credit card readers to business merchants."

Bank of America, First Data unveil mobile credit-card processor
"A joint venture between Bank of America and Atlanta payment processor First Data is jumping into the game of turning smart phones and tablets into cashless pay stations. Atlanta-based Bank of America Merchant Services unveiled on Tuesday its Mobile Pay on Demand card readers and mobile applications, becoming the latest challenger in a crowded new niche for processing credit and debit cards for smaller businesses that want to be more mobile or ones that are new to electronic payments."

Visa Moves Banks To The Virtual Wallet
"Earlier this year we forecasted the need for big financial institutions to enter e-commerce as the credit card industry matures. Several tech companies had already entered into e-commerce as a challenge to traditional banking. Visa’s (V) mobile payment program, V.me, recently exited out of beta testing and has announced the cooperation of over 50 banks and credit unions with the service. V.me largely resembles Paypal (owned by eBay) by getting rid of the need to enter all those numbers on your credit card when you buy online. The program is entering an increasingly saturated “m-commerce market” that includes products from the Square, Mastercard (MA), Google (GOOG), eBay (EBAY), and American Express (AXP)."

Bank of America Mobilizes Merchants
"When it comes to mobile banking services, Bank of America has outrun its peers every time. While JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup all offer a varied palette of mobile options, B of A consistently offers the most -- and updates these offerings regularly. Having excelled in the customer mobile offerings department, the bank is now moving into the retailer arena, offering a new way for merchants to turn their smartphones and tablets into roaming payment terminals. Though not a new idea, the dongle-based payment system will put B of A in the same space as payment giant Square, and tech biggie Apple."

Has Square Already Won America's Mobile Payments Race?
"Back in January 2011, Starbucks became the first national retailer to offer its own mobile payment technology combined with a loyalty program. It led to more than 100 million mobile transactions occurring in its U.S. stores since the launch. Now, in a move to push mobile commerce even further, Starbucks is accepting payments in some 7,000 retail locations via Square, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's mobile payment app for iOS and Android smartphones."

Mobile Banking – More Than Everyday Transactions
"You may have noticed that much of the recent industry news around mobile banking has focused on everyday banking transactions. The message we’re seemingly inundated with is that online banking is only the first step, and that truly anywhere/anytime processing of everyday transactions like balance statements, transfers, as well as credit, payment and cheque processing can more easily be accomplished with mobile banking. What’s been missing from the story, though, is mobile banking’s significance to high-value transactions, like mortgage openings and those accompanying investment and wealth management."

Mobile Banking Vendor Updates - Mar 6

Fiserv Acquires M-Com to Enhance Mobile Banking and Payments Capabilities
"Fiserv, Inc., the leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, today announced that it has acquired Mobile Commerce Ltd. (M-Com), an international mobile banking and payments provider, to enhance Fiserv's existing mobile channel capabilities. The two companies have been partners since 2008, developing and delivering Mobile Money™ from Fiserv to hundreds of financial institutions. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed."

Texas banks launch mobile banking offering with First Data
"After a successful pilot period, two Texas banks have launched First Data’s Mobile Manager mobile banking service to offer customers greater flexibility and on-the-go access to their financial information. The service can be easily integrated into banks’ current online platforms, and provides an alternative to creating the mobile banking system in-house. It includes SMS, mobile Web and downloadable applications."

Mitek Systems Unveils Another New Consumer Application That Enhances Consumer Convenience in Mobile Payments
"Continuing to expand consumer options for convenience in mobile banking, Mitek Systems Inc. today rolled out another innovative application for mobile payments companies which offers consumers the most convenient way to enroll their checking accounts."

Sutherland and Tyfone Partner to Accelerate Adoption of Mobile Financial Services
"Sutherland Global Services (www.sutherlandglobal.com), a leading provider of technology-enabled Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services, announced a partnership with Tyfone (www.Tyfone.com), a global provider of unified mobile secure transaction infrastructure for mobile banking, mobile identity management and mobile contactless NFC payments."

Clickatell Engages Customers with SMS; Secures Funding for Mobile Banking
"From making donations to launching alerts about local emergencies, text messaging has far exceeded its original purpose of communicating with friends. Yet, harnessing the power of SMS technologies is not always easy or affordable for small businesses that may want to communicate en masse with its constituencies. Until now. Clickatell, a South African-based online SMS mobile messaging gateway provider, has launched a US small business SMS messaging package aimed at providing an accessible way to interact with and help customers via simple text messages."

CoCoNet unveils mobile banking app for corporate customers
"The new e-banking app is available for various smart phones and tablet PCs such as Apple iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, and Android devices. The European multi-bank communications standard EBICS allows companies to connect to all their bank accounts at the highest level of service quality and security. Besides the well established channels through fat-clients and high sophisticated internet portals like MULTIVERSA IFP International Finance Portal users of corporate customers increasingly demand for mobile capabilities."

Mobile Banking Updates - Feb 13

Banks Launch Integrated Mobile Banking Solution from First Data
"American Bank of Texas, Marble Falls, Texas, and Waggoner National Bank, Vernon, Texas, have launched First Data’s Mobile Manager – mBanking solution. The offering is now available to their Internet banking customers following a successful internal pilot period. First Data Corporation is a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing.

With the First Data Mobile Manager – mBanking solution, financial institutions can rapidly implement mobile banking with robust functionality. This solution integrates seamlessly with First Data’s FundsXpress online banking platform, enabling a consistent experience with the same capabilities as online banking on a mobile device, and only one set of logon credentials to manage.

First Data offers the Mobile Manager – mBanking solution as a fully hosted and integrated service. This results in substantially lower costs for a financial institution than developing a solution in-house. Since launching Mobile Manager – mBanking at the beginning of 2011, First Data has signed 60 financial institutions for the service."

Tablets will change banking forever: analyst
"Led by Apple’s iPad, tablet computing is on an obvious growth trajectory, but how should banks and other financial institutions act on this trend? Tablets are already contributing to financial services channel delivery, both inside the branch network and as a viable self-service channel on its own, according to research and consulting firm Celent."

New Mobile Banking App Launched in Volunteer State
"First Tennessee Bank, with 180 branches in and around Tennessee, says the launch of its updated mobile banking app coincides nicely with the introduction of the Verizon iPhone. The app includes a new mobile pay feature for iPhones and other smartphones."

For Mobile Deposit, Banks Choose Speed-to-Market Over Simplicity
"Two apps are better than one — at least for now — when it comes to launching mobile check deposit services, some banks say. Smaller banks are seeking to capitalize on the attention bigger ones like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and USAA Federal Savings Bank have generated for mobile deposit, but to get the function out in a timely way, they are finding, an integrated experience may not be possible. Adding the capability to an existing mobile banking app that lets a customer check balances and pay bills can involve months of integration work, even if the services are all coming from the same vendor. The complexity is prompting some banks to release a separate app solely for remote deposit capture.

Mobile Banking Updates - Sept 19

The Mobile Banking Webinar - Sept 22 The London Stock Exchange
Tim France-Massey, Royal Bank of Scotland
Phil Sowter, Barclays
Paul Berney. Mobile Marketing Association

Mobile Service Targets Cambodia's 'Unbanked'
"How do you roll out a banking service in a place where most people don't have bank accounts? Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. tackled that question in developing WING, a banking and payment system it launched in Cambodia early last year. In Phnom Penh, said Peter Dalton, ANZ's general manager for innovation, it's not uncommon for workers to send money to relatives in rural areas via a taxi-bound courier, which is risky as well as expensive. The Melbourne, Australia, bank estimates that only about 500,000 of the country's 14 million population have bank accounts, but 'there is a need for saving and sending money,' he said."

Obopay and Star Network Partner for Mobile Transfers
"The agreement enables Obopay to offer the industry's only mobile money transfer solution with real-time capabilities that places the demand deposit account at the center of the transaction, the company said. The Star Network offers transaction speeds that are not possible with Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfers, which often take several days to process. With this service, financial institutions can offer a secure and convenient way for their customers and members to send and receive money using their mobile phones."

Afghanistan shows the UK how mobile banking should be done
"Last week on TV I saw a Barclays Bank ad showing how 'easy' it was for people to use their phones for mobile banking and I realised how far the UK is behind when it comes to this business. It was the first such commercial I'd seen.
The plethora of cash machines that appear to be in every shop nowadays and the (recently treated) plague of credit cards means UK banks have been woefully slow in offering customers this service. Meanwhile, in poverty-stricken countries such as Afghanistan it is transforming lives and probably saving them as well."

BofA Tests Mobile Payments
"Bank of America is extending its mobile financial offer, giving contactless chip-based payments another shot in the U.S. Mobile payments and mobile banking are quickly changing the financial landscape, not just for consumers but also for banks and credit unions. So what new opportunities are emerging in the arena of payments, and how are U.S. consumers expected to embrace these options?"

First Data to offer turnkey NFC service to US banks from early 2011
"First Data has partnered with South Korea's SK C&C to offer turnkey NFC-based TSM and mobile wallet services to its US banking and merchant customer base. The two companies will deliver a complete set of mobile commerce services to First Data's financial institution and merchant customers, including a TSM (trusted service manager) platform and mobile wallet software. Credit, debit, prepaid and gift cards will all be supported."

Banks need to go mobile to improve customer opinion
"New research from digital agency YouGov has revealed that banks could hugely improve their customer’s opinions by launching mobile banking services. The study, commissioned by on-line financial services company Intelligent Enviroments, reveals that 25% of people aged between 18 and 34 would be more approving of their bank if they were offered mobile features."

Mobile Banking Updates - Mar 18

Citi Sees Weak Demand For Mobile P2P Transfers, For Now
"Citigroup Inc. is learning many consumers today do not share its enthusiasm for mobile payments.

Citi, the first major bank to evaluate mobile transfers, has determined that even the people most likely to consider their phones a useful way to send money are still years away from embracing the technology.

The banking company began testing mobile person-to-person transfers in 2008, but quietly shuttered the program in December, concluding that consumers are only now starting to understand the capabilities of their increasingly sophisticated phones."

Europe gears up for SMS- based mobile payments
"Europeans now seem to be willing to pay for goods from their phones and with the successful trial in Sweden; the continent seems to be ripe enough for SMS-based mobile payments to take off. 20% increase in sales of the seven vending machines in two Stockholm underground stations was reported where the service was trialed by the payment and messaging equipment provider, Ericsson IPX, besides boosting carrier’s ARPU through increased SMS traffic."

First Data, Tyfone Partner for MicroSD-based Mobile Payments
"First Data Corporation has announced an agreement with Tyfone to provide SideTap micro secure digital (MicroSD) memory cards equipped with Tyfone’s patented technologies to enable most mobile phones with a memory slot to function as a mobile contactless payment device.

Unlike solutions that are tied to specific merchants or financial institutions, the MicroSD card powered by Tyfone technology lets the card work like an actual mobile “wallet.” The card can contain financial information and secure identification from multiple sources, such as specific retailers or financial institutions in both open-loop and closed-loop scenarios."

Mobile Banking Articles from PaymentsNews.com

Getting the Garden Ready: First Data and Mobile Payments at the Point of Sale
"While the list of start-ups focused on mobile payments for digital content, eCommerce physical goods and/or person-to-person transfers continues to grow, another part of the industry is biding its time, with an eye on what may be a much larger prize.

What’s at stake are point-of-sale, in-person payments – what Glenbrook estimates to be roughly $4 trillion and 107 billion payments each year in the U.S. market. Some of these today are done by card; some by cash and check. All are targets for the companies looking at using the phone to make those payments."

Mobile Payments Are Taking Off. But Which One to Use?
"Mobile payments system Boku just announced that it will work with a bevy of social networks and gaming sites. But competitor Zong, was recently chosen to pilot Facebook's virtual currency, called Credits. Both sites will face considerable opposition from Obopay, a seasoned startup that recently earned the backing of mobile phone giant Nokia for its Nokia Money payment system. Mobile payments are convenient, fast and easy--but which service should you use?"

M-Commerce Is Still in Its Infancy
"More than 70 million US mobile phone users will access the Internet from their device in 2009, eMarketer forecasts. And a number of recognized retail brands have launched mobile commerce programs so they can be where their customers go.

Nevertheless, mobile commerce is still immature. Web-enabled mobile phone users are much more likely to employ their devices to get weather forecasts, read news, find movie times and bank online than to buy products."

Recap from Mobile Commerce Summit - Part 2

One of the most interesting sessions from the Mobile Commerce Summit was titled "NFC Mobile Payments Ecosystem and Applications - An Update of Pilots around the World."

Here are a few of the comments that caught my attention:

1) When Dom Morea (SVP - First Data) was asked the question, "Who will pay?" (i.e. how are the carriers compensated in the new model) He responded, "If incremental value is created people will pay."

In other words, don't worry about specifying "who" right now because the fact is everyone will be willing to pay if the solution generates revenue and creates shareholder value.

2) James Anderson (VP - Mastercard) then added the following:
* If the only solution is to take dollars from an existing player - we're dead.
* Look at your customer base. Figure out who will pay for NFC and then sell to them.
* 80% of the value will come from 20% of the market
* The banks that lead will begin to take good clients from other institutions. That's the benefit that will cover the upfront cost until the value is proven.