International Mobile Banking Updates - Jan 16

Filling the Gap: Mobile Banking in the Developing World
"In many parts of India and the Philippines, women hide the little money they save under mattresses or in various places throughout the house. That means it’s difficult if not impossible for them to say no when a relative or friend comes looking to “borrow” money. (Plus, the money is not secure or accruing interest). Because banks are often scarce and difficult to access for many people in Asia, a savings account isn’t an option for most, says Julie Peachey, program manager of the microsavings initiative at Grameen Foundation, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. and a partner of Qualcomm’s Wireless Reach initiative."

Ethiopia: Mobile Banking Legal At Last
"Without much deviation from its draft state, the long awaited directive that will allow banks and Micro Financial Institutions (MFI) to provide transaction-based mobile and agent banking services was issued, on January 1, 2013. Now clients of banks and MFI's, offering mobile banking services, will be able to make deposits and withdrawals through their mobile phones. They can also make payments to businesses or transfer money to clients using their mobile phones."

New mobile service M-Shwari brings banking to underserved Kenyans
"A little over two months since launching M-Shwari, Safaricom says the mobile microcredit service has performed better than expected, with billions of shillings deposited and loaned out to help small and emerging businesses. Safaricom launched M-Shwari in November in partnership with the Commercial Bank of Africa to provide savings and loan services to the 15 million users registered for its M-PESA service, which allows Kenyans to transfer money via text messaging."

The Netherlands Showcases Europe’s Enthusiasm for Mobile Banking
"Mobile banking has been among the most popular mobile money activities among users, and the Netherlands is one country where that’s more than evident. According to Telecompaper, citing numbers provided by major banks within the country, Dutch broadcaster NOS reports that mobile banking apps users doubled last year. Rabobank and ING each said they served more than 1 million mobile banking customers, while ABN Amro had about 760,000 and 10 percent of SNS Bank’s customers conducted business through its mobile app."

International Mobile Banking Updates - Nov 13

Mobile banking expands to include microfinance
"Mobile banking in the Philippines is expanding into microfinance to serve the lower-income market outside of the country’s major urban centers. Tricia Dizon, head of financial services at Smart Communications, said in a statement the telecommunications giant was helping launch mBank Philippines."

Mobilink to launch mobile financial services
"Mobilink is all set to enter the mobile banking segment as Waseela Bank – sister concern of Pakistan’s largest cellular operator – has obtained central bank’s approval to launch Mobile Financial Services (MFS) in Pakistan, sources familiar with the matter said and the company’s spokesperson also confirmed on Tuesday. A subsidy of Orascom Telecom – Mobilink’s parent company – Waseela Bank is said to launch its MFS operations by December this year; the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued the licence on Monday, according to sources."

Leading Pakistan Mobile Banking Provider Uses IBM Cloud
"The FINANCIAL -- IBM announced that Monet, one of Pakistan’s leading mobile-commerce providers, has selected a customized IBM cloud-based solution that will enable the company to enhance service efficiency and expand its presence across the country. Launched in 2012, Monet provides banks, mobile network operators and branchless banking agents in Pakistan with a technology platform that offers end-users a simple interface through which they can access a wide range of financial services on their mobile phones."

Mobile banking to overtake online
"More people will be banking on their mobile phones and tablets than online within five years, Westpac group executive, retail and business banking, Jason Yetton says. Mr Yetton said the explosive growth in mobile banking over the past two years, with more than 1.58 million Westpac customers using their devices for transactions, will accelerate. Westpac estimates that the number of payments made across its digital platforms will exceed one billion transactions within five years, with a total value of $6.8 trillion."

Good banking apps can make consumers jump ship: ANZ Bank
"The quality of a banking app can have the power to make consumers switch banks, according to ANZ Bank's Group General Manager for Innovation Peter Dalton. All the major Australian banks have poured money into customer-facing mobile application development as smartphone and tablet penetration continues to soar. Around one in 10 ANZ Bank customers do their banking exclusively on their mobile devices. Its competitors are all going through similar growth in mobile banking, with Westpac boasting 1.58 million customers engaging the bank through mobile devices."

Federal Bank rolls out mobile fund transfer facility to merchants
"Federal Bank has launched a funds transfer facility to merchants and enterprises through mobile phone. The Kochi-based private sector lender’s IMPS-Merchant Payment Service, in association with National Payment Corporation of India, will enable customers to use their mobile phones to access bank accounts and transfer funds."

PC Financial to launch a mobile banking app “in the upcoming months”
"While some Canadian banking institutions are already plugging away at mobile payments, PC Financial is wrestling with launching a mobile app. The Loblaws driven financial service, provided by CIBC, has approximately 2.3 million customers and some people have been requesting an app for months. Having a mobile banking app is basically standard these days. Offering simple features like checking account status, transfer funds, find ATM’s or contacting the closest branch makes the banking experience a more pleasant one."

Going mobile
"First National Bank customers are now able to track their spending habits, check their balance and make electronic bill payments from their smartphones. FNB has created an enhanced Online Banking System and also introduced Mobile Banking. 'For generations, personal service has been the signature of The First National Bank of Brundidge,' said John Ramage, senior vice president of FNB."

Use of Mobile Banking Continues to Grow: Canadian Bankers Association
"The Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) today released the results of its latest study on How Canadians Bank, which explores the role that modern technologies are playing in consumer banking. The results reveal that Canadians continue to embrace new approaches to banking and see these innovations as adding value to their daily banking. Going forward, the research suggests change will continue, driven by the convenience of the Internet, and led by younger generations who tend to be the first adapters."

Mobile Phones Empowering the Rural Poor through Mobile Banking
"Mobile phones are as numerous in Rwanda as the beautiful panoramic views of its famous 'Thousand Hills'. This was all the more confirmed as Vestine Nyirabagande, Urwego Opportunity Bank’s (UOB) client, sat with a mobile phone on her lap. She laughed when asked how many of her neighbors have mobile phones. 'I don’t think there is anyone in this area who doesn’t have a mobile phone!' she said."

St George customers getting smarter and smarter with their banking
"The St George Bank says it is seeing an “unprecedented demand” from its customers wanting to do as much of their banking as possible on their smartphones, and that more than 60,000 of its 400,000 mobile banking customers are already only using their smartphone to do their banking."

International Mobile Banking Updates - Oct 2

MOBILE BANKING (First of two parts)
"THE popularity of cell phones in the Philippines is undeniable and palpable. Ask any person on the street if he has a cell phone, and 7 out of 10 would probably say yes. Sadly, while access to mobile phone services has rocketed in recent years, access to financial services remains a major barrier to economic growth. If only banks here were as easily accessible as cell phones, particularly in the rural areas!"

Anytime-anywhere banking, courtesy RBI
"Customers can now pay for their taxi rides, pizzas, kirana store purchases anytime, anywhere with their mobile phones, reports CNBC-TV18's Gopika Gopakumar. Have you run out of cash while shopping? Don't worry! You can pay anyone including your neighbourhood kirana store with your mobile phone. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the organisation set up by the RBI for all retail payments, has now launched the inter-bank mobile payment service for all merchants. This will allow customers to pay their bills for as little as 25 paise for each transaction."

Mobile banking expands in rural areas 
"In 2011, Philippine rural banks processed over P4.9 billion (roughly $116 million) worth of banking transactions which were enabled by mobile banking. In fact, the former head of the Microentrepreneurs Access to Banking Services (MABS) program John V. Owens said a 58-percent increase in the volume of transactions through mobile banking has been noted in the first four months of 2012. Since mobile banking or access to banking services through the mobile phone technology was introduced in 2006, a total of P16 billion (approximately $363 million) had been processed."

KBank boosts mobile and cyber-banking services
"Art Wichiencharoen, first senior vice president of Kasikornbank, said that the company usually invests about Bt100 million to keep the bank's technologies up to date in order to provide a wide new range of secure cyber-banking and mobile-banking services. Currently, the bank has more than 1.4 million users of its cyber-banking services, with 400,000 active users per month. Meanwhile, it has more than 1.2 million registered users of its mobile-banking service, with about 500,000 active users per month."

SBI, ICICI lead the pack as m-banking gains currency
"Mumbai: Anand Chaturvedi, a 27-year-old analyst with a brokerage firm in Mumbai, started using his mobile phone for banking about six months back “because it is easy to use and accessible from anywhere”. When in office, he does Internet banking, but uses the mobile banking (m-banking) services of ICICI Bank Ltd and HDFC Bank Ltd when travelling. Vinaya Venugopalan, a 26-year-old information technology (IT) manager with an Indian bank, started using m-banking in May. He is comfortable with the service, but limits it mostly to checking his bank balance."

Australians slow to embrace mobile banking
"A cashless future where the bulk of consumers rely on mobile phones for their banking needs may be further away than many in the financial services industry claim. That's because consumers in Australia have not shown wide acceptance of mobile banking at a time when technical barriers persist and the challenge of an ageing demographic looms."

Way to beat a cash economy
"In a predominantly cash-run economy, electronic payment methods that provide convenience to users while lowering the transaction cost of banks make immense sense. Mobile banking, or m-banking, that started with small SMS transactions, is one such mechanism. Today, with more than 900 million cellphone subscribers in the country and hundreds of tablet PCs, there should ideally be many takers. According to a August Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report, in fiscal 2012, however, only 13 million people across 49 banks used m-banking services, and made 25.6 million transactions valued at Rs.1,820 crore."

Capitec mobile banking hits 2 million clients
"South African commercial bank Capitec Bank Holdings reported on Wednesday (26 September), that it had signed up more than two million clients to its mobile banking service. 'Capitec promotes the use of mobile banking, and at the end of August 2012, in excess of 2.0 million clients were registered for this service.'"

Mobile tellers take banking by storm
"Since taking the reins as chief information officer for Westpac, Clive Whincup has presided over the launch of the bank’s first iPad application; a trial to turn Android smartphones into contactless payment devices; the introduction of an iPad app to replace printed board papers; a 1000 iPad pilot for bank executives; and a St George innovation that allows payments to be made from a smartphone using only the recipient’s mobile number."

Mobile devices change the face of banking
"How about taking a picture of a cheque with your smartphone to deposit it? What about getting online advice about your investments when you're on your tablet? And then there's paying for small purchases with smartphones. The use of smartphones and tablets in consumers' everyday lives is helping push changes in how they bank, pay for bills and even how they can get investment advice, say experts."

The rise of mobile money is driven by the poor 
"As Google, Apple, Paypal, Mastercard and the entire banking community fights over mobile money, we decided to look to the power users to find out what the near future of monetary exchange might look like. The World Bank’s treasure trove of open data on mobile banking is a well stocked pantry for the data hungry. Welcome to our first data snack and enjoy the graph we created below."

International Mobile Banking Updates - Sept 25

Over 200 Attendees and 20 Speakers Confirmed for the 4th Annual Mobile Money Canada Conference
"The 4th Annual Mobile Money Canada Conference is this year‘s must attend event for mobile and financial sector professionals interested in learning from and networking with the leading mobile banking, mobile payments, and mobile money transfer pioneers from Canada and around the word. Mobile Money Canada 2012 is Canada‘s largest conference focused exclusively on showcasing and fostering the growth of the Mobile Money industry in Canada. The conference is almost sold out and occurs on September 25th, 2012 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre."

Banks develop more services for mobile market
"Banks in Viet Nam are vying with each other to diversify their internet banking services in order to take advantage of people's increasing reliance on mobile electronic devices. According to data collected in a survey on internet usage in Viet Nam made in 2011 by Cimigo Viet Nam, which specialises in marketing and brand research, 60 per cent of the 5,800 people polled used mobile devices such as mobile phones and tablet PCs to connect to the Internet."

Mobile Banking And Payment Innovation In France
"France has been quick to embrace mobile banking. Banks like BNP Paribas and Société Générale were among the pioneers of mobile banking in Europe and since 2009, all of the big French banks have launched iPhone mobile banking apps, so most French banks now offer several forms of mobile banking. The first wave of mobile banking was about getting the basics down and offering customers functionality like balances, transaction histories and SMS alerts. The second wave now focuses on money transfers and payments."

Indigenous and ingenious: The roots of mobile banking in Africa
"In Ghana, it’s popularly known as susu. In Cameroon, tontines or chilembe. And in South Africa, stokfel. Today, you’d most likely call it plain-old microfinance, the nearest term we have for it. Age-old indigenous credit schemes have run perfectly well without much outside intervention for generations. Although, in our excitement to implement new technologies and solutions, we sometimes fail to recognise them. Innovations such as mobile banking – great as they may be – are hailed as revolutionary without much consideration for what may have come before, or who the original innovators may have been."

Now, you can buy gold, silver on mobile phone
"After enabling purchase of books and clothes among items, as well as internet banking and share market dealings, new mobile applications have been developed to allow consumers buy precious metals like gold and silver. With nearly 15 million mobile subscribers being added every month in the country, the mobile application market has emerged as a major growth area for developers and there are estimated to be about 2.5 lakh app developers in India alone."

RBI’s Dep Governor: Mobile Banking Has Great Potential, India is Moving Towards ‘Less-Cash’ Society
"Technology has played in important role in the evolution of banking in India. First there was ATMs then internet banking thus noting that local geographical bank branches are not as important when it comes to doing transactions. The question right now for banks is not about whether mobile banking is good for business but how to take advantage of this new trend in the banking industry. It is going to be about the evolution of better customer service, expanded product range, reducing operating expenses while enhancing revenue through mobile banking."

Celpay to invest $10mn in Africa
"Mobile banking and payment solution service provider, Celpay, plans to invest $10 million over the next five years to expand its operations in the southern African region. The company, which already has operations in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, said the investment would increase its footprint in the fastest growing economies in southern Africa."

Mobile Remittances May Boost World’s CUs
"A new partnership between the World Council of Credit Unions and Boom Financial, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based company that provides mobile banking and money transfer services to immigrant and unbanked families, could pump new life into credit unions in developing countries. Founded four years ago, Boom gives underbanked and unbanked consumers the ability to activate a Boom bank account, receive a prepaid card and transfer money to anyone in the world via a mobile transaction."

Jobs boom for mobile banking
"New jobs in mobile banking are expected to overtake those in internet banking for the first time this year, according to research from specialist financial services recruitment company BrightPool. In addition, the biggest growth in new jobs is expected to come in retail banking."

Mobile Phones Can Alleviate Global Poverty, But it Will Not Be Easy
"Despite the proven effectiveness of mobile banking in integrating significant portions of populations in developing countries to the financial system, two New America Foundation partners, Sascha Meinrath and Jamie M. Zimmerman, argue that this strategy is still an imperfect solution to financially include the poorest of the poor. M-PESA in Kenya, for example, has been heralded as an immense success with nearly 70% of the adult population using its e-transaction services, which has lead to positive results in related income generation."

The M-Banking Leader
"Would you believe a public sector bank is the leader in mobile banking? FY12 saw 25 million mobile transactions valued at over Rs 1,820 crore. Of these, State Bank of India (SBI) accounted for 81% by volume and 50% by value, while private sector ICICI Bank was a distant second accounting for 8.4% by volume and 33% by value. The balance, however, is proof of the wide gulf between private and public sector banks. There’s Central Bank of India with just 42 m-banking transactions, Dena Bank’s 481 and Allahabad Bank’s 782. In contrast, Citibank, HDFC and Axis Bank all clocked over 220,000 transactions."

For Text-Savvy Filipinos, Mobile Banking Is a Crucial Bridge
"For a long time, Lolita Singahan greeted paydays with a mix of relief and anxiety—relief, because it meant receiving money to cover her family’s expenses, and anxiety, because it meant she would need to spend an entire day traveling to the bank to get her paycheck. Although she makes about $800 a month, which is way above the minimum pay in the Zamboanga Peninsula region in Mindanao, Singahan still needs additional funds to support her children’s education. She has found refuge in the loan program of 1st Valley Bank for almost six years now."

International Mobile Banking Updates - Jul 11

New Mobile App Tool Encourages Canadians To Make Small Sacrifices For Long-term Savings
"ING DIRECT today announced a new addition to its existing mobile banking app for Apple® and Android™ devices. Called Small Sacrifices, this new tool helps Canadians visualize how foregoing everyday indulgences and redirecting that money through small incremental deposits can lead to big savings over the long term. In a new poll commissioned by ING DIRECT, 52% of Canadians surveyed said that if they could better visualize what foregoing their daily, weekly and monthly spending on non-essential purchases would save them over the short and long term, they would change their spending habits."

Boon to mobile banking in PH
"Mobile banking— one of the key tools rural banks regularly utilize to serve its clientele in the countryside—gets a much-needed shot in the arm after the United States Agency for International Development (Usaid) recently collaborated with Citigroup Inc. to further encourage the use of mobile banking in rural communities in several countries, including the Philippines."

Chart: Transactions Vs Amount Using Mobile Banking In India During Aug 2011-May 2012
"The number of transactions using mobile banking in India have gone up by 68.86% while the amount has increased by 102.65% taking into consideration the period from August 2011 to May 2012. The average amount per transaction stood at Rs 731.83, though we believe that the transaction information shared by the RBI with us includes both payment and non payment related transactions."

CBA launches new mobile banking innovations
"The Commonwealth Bank is making mobile banking more accessible to small businesses, rolling out a number of new innovations to its social payments app CommBank Kaching this week. Since launching Kaching for the iPhone last year, the app has been downloaded over 365,000 times and seen over $1 billion worths of transfer made. Now, the Commonwealth Bank has announced that the ‘peer-to-peer’ mobile payment app is now available for Google Android smartphones."

Use of Mobile Banking Services Expected to Triple in Finland
"According to a survey conducted by TNS Gallup, the use of mobile banking services is expected to triple in Finland. During the last 12 months, 11% of Finns aged between 16 and 60 years have used mobile banking services and 30% would like to use them in the future. Mobile service is seen as a complementary channel and will not, however, replace other service channels in the near future*."

Kenya's mobile payment revolution
"The mobile banking revolution has already happened, but it has nothing to do with Apple, Google, or Microsoft, and isn't in the US, Europe, or Japan. Instead, it started with a service called m-Pesa that launched in Kenya in 2007. Just three years later, the service had been used by more than half the Kenyan population and as of March of this year it had been used by 15 million people in the country."

BDO, Smart bring mobile banking to new heights 
"BDO Unibank Inc. has been making banking more convenient for the public with the use of mobile phone technology. With the mobile phone and a Smart prepaid card, BDO customers can practically do bank transactions anywhere, anytime. With the help of leading telecommunications provider Smart Communications Inc. (Smart), BDO introduced the Smart Money prepaid card that also serves as an automated teller machine (ATM), and a debit card."

Retail Banking in Slumdog City Seen Booming With Wireless
"For a good look at the future of retail banking -- and mobile-phone profits -- in the developing world, consider the competition between corporate giants in Dharavi, the Indian shantytown that was the setting for the film 'Slumdog Millionaire.' And also consider that they are copying a strategy already used, with great success, in Kenya.

Mobile Banking Updates - Mar 29

Tigo Helps Remittances Go Mobile
"Every week or so, Nehemias Navas-Perez, 32, a Long Island, New York, landscaper, trudges over to the local Western Union or Intermex to send a couple hundred dollars to his family in the jungle-covered outpost of El Peten, Guatemala. Remittances from folks like Navas-Perez, who emigrated from El Peten 11 years ago, can account for 11% of GDP in small countries like Guatemala, and create huge international money flows each year: In 2011, World Bank figures indicate that there were $483 billion in such remittances worldwide."

Bank transactions made easy through Mobile Apps for smartphones
"The country’s largest foreign bank recently unveiled a suite of Mobile Banking Applications for three platforms – Android, BlackBerry and iPhone. Citibank’s latest move enables both its credit card and bank clients to access their accounts and complete a range of banking transactions using their preferred smartphones."

Citi launches mobile banking platform
"Citibank, the largest foreign bank in the country, yesterday launched its newest product on mobile banking which will run on Android, BlackBerry and iPhone. According to Sergio Zanatti, consumer business manager for Citibank in the Philippines, the newly developed technology will allow its depositors and credit card users to access their accounts on their preferred mobile phones."

Juniper Research says mobile banking is moving from Push to Pull
"A new ’Mobile Banking for Developed & Developing Markets’report from Juniper Research has found that mobile phone banking is gaining considerable traction. It’s mainly thanks to the exploitation of advanced functionalities such as banks bundling MBPP (Mobile Bill Presentment and Payment) services within their overall mobile banking platform. Plus there’s been additional momentum from easy-to-use smartphone apps. The report has also discovered that there’s a growing user acceptance of ‘push’ mobile banking. "

Mobile banking and payments set to take off in the UK, say industry big hitters
"The mobile banking and mobile payments battleground in the UK is heating up as industry players manoeuvre into position to take advantage of the opportunities. This is according to a report commissioned by digital banking provider Intelligent Environments (IE), which investigated the views of mobile strategists within companies at the forefront of mobile banking and payments services, such as O2, Microsoft and Lloyds Banking Group."