Mobile Banking Updates - Mar 31

Bell State Bank Deploys Fiserv's Mobile Banking System
"Bell State Bank & Trust in Fargo, N.D., has chosen Mobiliti, Fiserv's mobile banking service. Mobiliti allows customers of the $2.6 billion-asset bank to make payments from their smartphones, the Wisconsin-based fintech firm said Tuesday. The bank also began using Mobile Source Capture, Fiserv's mobile deposit system. Mobiliti is currently available to Bell State's customers through text messaging, web browsers, iPhone and Android phones, and the bank plans to add iPad compatibility, the release says."

Fed: Number of Americans using mobile banking increasing
"Nearly 1-in-3 mobile phone owners accessed a financial account via their phone in the past 12 months, a marked increase from a year earlier, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday. For those who own a smartphone, the number jumps to nearly half of all users, according to the study of consumer attitudes released by the reserve’s Board of Governors."

Mobile devices increasingly popular for banking services
"More consumers are using their mobile phones and smartphones for their banking needs, according to a Federal Reserve Board survey released this week. Twenty-eight percent of mobile phone users and 48 percent of smartphone users had used mobile banking in the 12 months prior to the survey being conducted in November 2012, up significantly from 21 percent and 42 percent in December 2011, according to the board’s Survey of Consumers’ Use of Mobile Financial Services."

Demand for Online, Mobile Technology Services Growing Among Business Banking Clients
"It’s hard to ignore that more and more people are using mobile devices to communicate, and banking institutions are aware of the growing demand for their services via the Internet among business clients. According to the American Bankers Association, businesses and consumers are demanding more payment options. This, coupled with shifting demographics, have banks re-thinking their service models to offer a wider range of products."

Mobile banking will break the 1 billion user mark in 4 years
"By the year 2017, studies are showing that the use of these services will have skyrocketed. The latest mobile banking study data from Juniper Research has indicated that an increasing acceptance of this type of smartphone and tablet based service has caused users to bring the number of users up to nearly 200 million."

Bank of Atlanta Mobile Banking
"Bank of Atlanta Mobile Banking allows you to bank on the go. Its free to download and offers quick access for managing your Bank of Atlanta accounts. Just like Online Banking, securely sign in with your current login information to check your balances, pay bills, transfer money, and locate ATMs and our banking centers."

Silicon Valley Bank Launches Mobile Banking App for Businesses
"Silicon Valley Bank, financial partner to technology and life science companies of all sizes, launched Apple® and Android™ mobile banking apps for its commercial clients in the US."

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Mobile Banking Updates - Mar 28

Oklahoma CU Deploys Tyfone Mobile Banking
"Communication Federal Credit Union is deploying Tyfone's mobile banking software. Tyfone's suite enables mobile banking via mobile app, mobile web or SMS. It is capable of integrating with Fiserv's XP2 core account processing software and is said to provide financial institutions a path to deploying mobile payments through its iCashe mobile wallet. The Oklahoma City-based credit union—which has about $850 million in assets and serves 55,000 members in Oklahoma and Kansas—and Tyfone did not immediately return requests for comment on the scheduled rollout of mobile banking and payments."

FIS Looks Forward On Mobile
"When Jacksonville, Fla.-based FIS completed its acquisition of mobile banking and payment solutions provider mFoundry last week, it was not just a one-off business transaction but part of a larger mobile strategy the company is planning over the next decade. "We see mobile as being a huge part of our future at FIS and the future of the clients we serve," Susan Hawkins, Group Executive and General Manager of eBanking, Mobile and Commercial Treasury Solution at FIS, recently told Bank Systems & Technology."

Snap happy mobile banking customers deposit checks via photos
"Earlier this month, Juniper Research released their "Mobile Banking: Handset & Tablet Market Strategies 2013-2017" report revealing that, within the next four years, 19% of tablet owners will carry out bill payments via their mobile device compared to the 9% that currently do so. New research, this time from mobile document capture software firm Mitek, found that Americans are increasingly comfortable with depositing money into their accounts simply by taking a photo of a check. More than 12 million have now done so, depositing more than $40 billion in to accounts. According to Mitek president and CEO, James B. DeBello, mobile banking is not only fast, easy, and gratifying, it's also fun."

Tablet Banking Forecast 2013-2017: Mobile Banking Users to Exceed One Billion by 2017
"Online banking is common enough these days, but Juniper Research believes the practice is heading to the mobile world. The March 12 report shows that users have become accustomed to pushed financial services, particularly tablet banking. The acceptance of mobile banking apps, plus the vast numbers of tablets in circulation among consumers, will encourage people to look up and pay their bills on mobile devices."

Banks Now Able to Enrich their Consumer Banking Offerings with New Online and Mobile Banking Range of Products from Misys
"At the 'Misys MENA Market Forum 2013' today Misys is announcing its new innovative range of online and mobile banking products, Misys BankFusion Digital Channels, which significantly enhances the way banks provide products and services via the Internet or mobile devices. Misys BankFusion Digital Channels comprises a range of proven and mature modules covering online banking, mobile banking, personal financial management and Internet brokerage, which enable banks to extend their services and add more value to their customers. The innovative solution enables banks to keep up to date with the changing needs of consumers. It allows banks to provide a better digital service all the time and allows them to optimise their costs, as customers migrate from transacting in branches to banking via digital channels."

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International Mobile Banking - Mar 27

Report: Mobile banking faces global hurdles
"While we're talking about mobile banking as the "Next Big Thing" (next to big data, of course) as cloud computing becomes "that old thing", there are still some very big hurdles that CIOs need to be aware of when planning their mobile banking strategies. According to GSMA's report "The Economy of Mobile 2013", an estimated 2.5 billion adults in developing nations do not have access to a formal bank account. While this figure means that people do not have access to a local ATM or a branch with a human teller, they will have access to mobile banking via their cell phones."

Orascom’s Burundi Unit to Start Mobile Banking to Add Customers
"Leo Burundi, a unit of Orascom Telecom Holding SAE (ORTE), wants to quadruple subscribers to its mobile phone cash-transfer platform by the end of the year as it introduces financial-services products. A partnership with Interbank Burundi SA will allow clients to deposit money into savings accounts and make withdrawals using their mobile phones, Laurent Ndayikeza, a manager, said. U.S.-based Obopay Inc., has been hired to provide a secure Internet connection and servers to process transactions, he told reporters today in the capital, Bujumbura."

Uganda: Bou Wants Banks to Adapt Mobile Banking
"Deepening the penetration of financial services requires commercial banks to invest more resources in mobile banking technology to attract the unbanked population, a senior Bank of Uganda (BOU) official has observed. Justine Bagyenda, the executive director supervision at BOU, noted that millions of potential customers for banks are scattered across the country in places that are not viable for permanent bank branches, a gap that can only be closed by boosting mobile banking, "Few people of the total population have bank accounts."

Mobile banking is still waiting to take off
"THE growth of mobile money will continue at a rapid rate this year, global mobile industry body GSMA said in a recently released report titled The Economy of Mobile 2013. More than 2.5-billion adults — the majority of whom live in developing economies — do not have access to a formal bank account, according to the World Bank."

HNB cruises with mobile banking
"Rajendra Theagarajah, Managing Director, CEO HNB at the re-launch of HNB’s mobile banking proposition ceremony held in Colombo on Thursday said plans were afoot to convert at lease 15 % of its customer base into active mobile customers in the next two to three years. Theagarajah said, sometime in 2010, soon as the end of the war, the bank’s top team relooked at the national vision, the national strategy and acknowledged it was time that they re-examined their own direction and strategy and to see whether they were also going in the same direction or whether there were gaps which prevented the bank from fully benefiting from the new found paradigm of prosperity."

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Mobile Banking Security - Mar 26

Mobile Payments and Banking - The 'Real' Security Risk
"Let me start by saying what wonderful things mobile payments and mobile banking are. You can’t deny the convenience of being able to bank, pay for goods and services, and perform P2P payments while “on the go”. It is these little conveniences that help turn train and bus travel into something more useful than simply reading the newspaper. With the introduction of mobile wallets and new security innovations, many companies are making big promises that your mobile is becoming the most secure means of banking and payments."

ATMIA Publishes Best Practices for Preventing Mobile Banking Fraud
"ATMIA today announced the publication of a new best practice manual for preventing mobile banking fraud, with special reference to applications linked to ATM systems. Due to the increasing popularity of mobile phones, and in particular smartphones and tablet computers which are capable of full internet access, mobile banking and related mobile commerce has become an important channel for the financial services industry, including the ATM industry."

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Mobile Banking Updates - Mar 24

Mobile Banking Innovations
"In 2006 Muhammad Yunus received the Nobel Peace Prize for his achievement with Grameen Bank. It gives microcredits to people too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans and the bank made a signficant profit with this business model. If the Nobel Committee was composed of international CEOs you can be sure Mr. Yunus would probably have received the Nobel Prize for Economics as well. He was able to create business opportunity where it was mostly overlooked or deemed impossible. He did that by offering new services and out-of-the-box thinking."

Loyalty To Mobile Banking Kept Some From Switching To CUs
"Credit unions could have gained even more members than the 2.2 million members they added in the weeks surrounding Bank Transfer Day, if they had made it easier for consumers to transfer their mobile accounts, according to Jim Van Dyke , CEO of Javelin Strategy & Research."

City National Bank aims mobile banking suite at small and mid-sized businesses
"Banks big and small are scrambling to "mobilize" their offerings, including those aimed at business clients. Today, City National Bank, a financial institution with $28.6 billion in assets, announced that it's offering a new online and mobile business banking solution called Book2Bank. The new suite of services includes connections to accounting software such as QuickBooks, as well as the ability to automate payment activities."

Infographic: What’s Really Going On in Mobile Banking
"By 2017, an estimated one billion people will use mobile banking. Even today, mobile banking has become an accepted – if not routine – part of daily life. But according to the data presented in a new infographic from FICO, there’s often a gap between what mobile services customers want and what their banks offer."

Check depositing via mobile banking reaches $40B threshold
"According to findings from mobile document capture software firm Mitek, Americans 'are increasingly comfortable with depositing money into their accounts simply by taking a photo of a check.' Sure, this survey came from a vendor who found that people just love what they do, but there is some interesting data nonetheless. The findings state that more than 12 million have deposited funds via check capture software. So far, this translates into more than $40 billion into accounts."

Future of Mobile Banking: Fewer Banks, More Apps
"Mobile banking is increasingly popular, according to a report from consulting firm Bain & Company, offering banks a chance to cut costs but also increase customer loyalty. The December 2012 report from Bain found that 20 percent of mobile users in the U.S. had accessed a mobile banking app in the past 12 months, with 64 percent performing a simple balance inquiry. Forty-one percent used a remote deposit capture system on their phone, while 26 percent paid bills with a mobile device."

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Mobile Banking Updates - Mar 21

Malauzai Software Launches Mobile Banking SmartApp for iPad
"Malauzai Software Inc., a provider of mobile banking SmartApps for community financial institutions, has launched its mobile banking app for iPad devices. The technology is currently in use by several institutions, including Huntsville, Ala.-based Worthington Federal Bank. Malauzai’s iPad SmartApp takes advantage of the larger tablet screen to introduce enhanced navigation capabilities to the mobile banking experience. Accounts are now displayed on scrolling tiles instead of lists, and users can have more than one workspace open at a time. For instance, users can view transaction history while making a transfer."

Mobile virus writers pay to Google Play
"An explosion in mallicious software -malware - targeting Android smartphone users is being fueled in part by a budding market for mobile virus creation kits, as well as a brisk market for hijacked or fraudulent developer accounts on Google's app store Google Play that can be used to disguise malware as legitimate apps for sale. I recently encountered an Android malware developer on a semi-private underground forum who was actively buying verified developer accounts at Google Play for $US100 apiece. Google charges just $US25 for Android developers who wish to sell their applications through the Google Play marketplace, but it also requires the accounts to be approved and tied to a specific domain. The buyer in this case was offering $US100 for sellers willing to part with an active, verified Google Play account tied to a dedicated server."

Will mobile banking fees turn away consumers? - Mobile Commerce Daily
"PNC bank is reportedly considering charging customers a fee when they use their mobile phones to deposit a check, a service that is now free. One of the attractions of mobile banking for consumers has been convenience but the fact that these services are typically free has also played a role. The question is whether by tacking a fee onto mobile deposits, this might slow the adoption of mobile banking."

Tablet users expected to make up 19 percent of mobile banking customers in 2017
One in four tablet users is predicted to pay bills via the device by 2017, according to a report by Juniper Research. Adoption of bill presentment and payment, or BPP, transactional banking by tablet users will be higher than by smartphone users, the report found. Tablet users are expected to make up 19 percent of mobile banking customers in 2017, or 200 million users, up from 9 percent of mobile banking customers in 2013."

Pros and Cons of Mobile Banking
"Many major commercial banks are now offering consumers the choice to make deposits, send money, and perform other routine tasks using a mobile app. Bank customers can now use a smartphone or tablet for basic transactions like check deposits and bill payments, making it easier to keep an eye on finances without a trip to the ATM."

Fiserv integrates P2P service into mobile banking platform
"Financial services technology provider Fiserv Inc. is looking to expand the use of its Popmoney peer-to-peer payments product. The company announced today that it will be integrating the P2P feature into its Mobiliti mobile banking platform. With the integration, P2P payments can be made directly from a user's mobile banking account. Additionally, users of P2P payments can manage payments and view transaction history from within their mobile banking application."

As Mobile Reshapes Payments Business, Fiserv Combines P2P Payments & Mobile Banking Offerings
"As consumers become more comfortable and engaged with the concepts of mobile wallets, mobile payments and other forms of digital payments transactions, the financial technology community is taking notice. For example, more than 16 billion person-to-person payments are made each year, according to McKinsey & Company. A 2012 Forrester Research report found that 51% of tablet banking users and 46% of mobile banking users would like to make person-to-person payments via their devices. Even though there is still considerable uncertainty about how things will play out in terms of standards, revenues and regulation no one wants to be left out of the race to dominate the mobile money space."

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International Mobile Banking Updates - Mar 20

Commercialbank names winners of online, mobile banking campaign
"Some eight lucky Commercialbank customers have been named as the winners of the bank’s recent online and mobile banking campaign. The eight week promotion, which was open to all new and existing customers registered for Commercialbank’s online banking and mobile services, highlighted the 'flexibility, security and range of banking services' that the bank’s customers have access to from their mobile phone or computers. Commercialbank’s mobile banking platform is compatible with iPad, Android and all smartphones, in addition to the iPhone, BlackBerry and mobile web."

RBS launch mobile banking app days after second card network crash
"From today, customers using the RBS/NatWest mobile phone app will be able to send a payment of up to £100 to anyone with a Visa card, by entering their mobile phone number. The announcement comes just days after the banking group apologised to customers for its second computer hitch in a year. A hardware fault left RBS Group customers blocked from using cashpoints for several hours last week, while online and telephone banking services were also disrupted. As well as currently having more than two million active users, the RBS/NatWest mobile banking app has 13 million logins per week."

Bank Alfalah, Warid launch mobile banking solution
"Monet – an independent mobile financial services company – partnered with Fundamo – Visa’s subsidiary and one of the world’s largest specialist mobile financial service providers – to launch a mobile money network in Pakistan, the press release said. Monet – which was set up by the Abu Dhabi Group last year – had secured approval from the State Bank of Pakistan to build its network, which is being offered to local firms planning to launch mobile money services."

The Benefits of Mobile Health, on Hold
"The world now has 5 billion mobile phones – one for every person over 15. Africa has a billion people and 750 million phones, and mobile is growing so fast there that in a few years there will be more phones than people. In some countries this is already true — South Africa has 47 million people, but 52 million SIM cards. The mobile phone is doing more than revolutionizing communication. It has the potential to improve many aspects of life in poor countries: commerce, health, agriculture, education."

Polish FI rolls out mobile banking, payment solution
"Polish financial institution PKO Bank Polski has launched its first mobile payment solution, called IKO. Based on the mobile payment platform of Swedish company Accumulate, the product supports mobile banking and payment services at the point of sale, real-time peer-to-peer payments and cardless withdrawals from ATMs."

Mobile banking a game changer, says SBP governor
"State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Yaseen Anwar has said that developments in branchless banking across the country have been so far marvelous, leaving nobody in doubt about the potential of mobile phone banking to be a game-changer in banking, m-commerce and financial inclusion. Speaking at the 6th International Conference on ‘Mobile Banking in Pakistan’ at a local hotel on Thursday, he said that developments in m-banking and m-commerce will lead us to connect the unbanked segment of our population to financial services, thus contributing to their empowerment."

Mobile phone-banking is failing to meet its potential
"India's 840 million mobile phone connections are emerging as knights in armour in the financial inclusion challenge—they hold the promise of providing banking access to the large swathe of India's unbanked population. Yet, today, less than 20 million people in India are using mobile banking services offered by some 50-odd banks, even though the National Payments Consortium of India (NPCI) has rolled out a gateway for inter-bank mobile payment services (IMPS)."

Shell-Backed Solar Company Bets on Phone Banking for Africa
"M-KOPA Kenya Ltd., backed by a Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)-funded charity, sees sales of its solar-lighting system that allows users to pay by phone surging 13-fold as mobile operators roll out banking services in Africa. The system, a panel powering lights and a phone charger, links to mobile banking services to allow customers to pay 40 Kenyan shillings (46 cents) a day to use it, M-KOPA says. The company plans to boost clients in Kenya to 100,000 from about 7,500 now, and expand abroad in future, Managing Director Jesse Moore said."

Kiwis double up on mobile banking
"The proportion of New Zealand's smartphoners who use their phone to conduct online banking transactions has almost doubled in the past year, according to Roy Morgan's latest Mobile Phone Monitor. While a majority of smartphone users (58%) still bank online using a computer, 16% now conduct banking on their mobiles—up from 8.3% in January last year."

Mobile banking service expanding in Bangladesh
"Mobile banking is gaining ground among the people in Bangladesh within a short span of time for facilitating its easy transaction services. Some 3.0 million people make now the use of different services under mobile banking. There are about 70,000 outlets of mobile banking service-providers, making the services available to the users. The extent of such services and the volume of transactions involve a sizeable amount of money, between Tk 300 million and Tk 350 million, per day, according to the data of the Bangladesh Bank (BB)."

Mobile banking technologies catch on in Russia
Portable terminals and personal finance management services are sweeping the global banking market. In Russia, the mobile- and online-banking segments are growing, introducing similar innovations to the market. Some banks are ready to invest in these innovations, while others wait for these new technologies to become actual drivers for the industry."

ANZ launches enhanced mobile banking app
"The ANZ Bank has launched more enhancements to its mobile banking application, goMoney, which the company says makes it the “first bank in Australia” to integrate personal and business accounts into a single mobile banking application for customers using an iPhone. Nick Reade, ANZ General Manager Small Business Banking, said small business customers wanted to do their banking “when and where it suits them,” and increasingly customers were using mobile devices."

Santander UK Launches Mobile Banking App for Android
"Santander has launched a brand new mobile banking app for customers who use Android smartphones and tablets, including the Kindle Fire, as well as updating the iPhone/iPad app the bank originally launched in January 2012. The new apps provide a secure service for banking on the go, including a helpful single platform where customers can see information for all their Santander current accounts, savings and credit cards. The apps are available from the Apple App Store and the Android store (Google Play) and free to all of Santander's personal banking customers."

Visa Europe signs new three-year deal with Monitise to expand its mobile banking services across Europe
"Visa Europe has signed a new three-year deal with Monitise to develop and expand its various Mobile Money solutions, which support mobile banking, payments and commerce networks, to more leading financial institutions across Europe. The extended partnership means that Monitise is guaranteed minimum revenues of €45 million over the next three years, with the chance to go beyond that provided 'certain user generated thresholds are achieved.'”

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