Recently in mobile banking Category

Javelin Strategy & Research issued a new report that reveals that banks' marketing efforts are not keeping pace with their actual mobile-banking services, and the imbalance is causing limited adoption of mobile-banking by consumers. Javelin's observations come from a study produced by the company's blend of quantitative consumer data, industry research data, experienced industry staff and rigorous process, which included 26 criteria for this particular study.

The study, 2009 U.S. Mobile Banking Benchmark Scorecard, found that 50 percent of financial institutions do not adequately address consumers' two primary mobile banking concerns. The report also rates the mobile-banking offerings of 18 top financial institutions based on features, access to mobile-banking services and marketing. Gold-category winners identified by Javelin include Bank of America, Chase, Citi, USAA and Wells Fargo.

Visa Europe will trial a new mobile service giving Visa cardholders instant transaction confirmation to their mobiles when they use their debit, credit, or prepaid card.

Visa claims the notifications will provide increased peace of mind when shopping, on a night out, or on holiday by instantly sending the time, location and amount of each transaction to the consumer's mobile.

Visa Europe customers will be able to choose to receive the alert via an SMS or email on any mobile device or to an application downloaded to a smartphone such as an iPhone or Android device.

Visa's mobile alert service will allow consumers to be in constant control of their card payments.

Last year, in the United States Visa and eight North American Banks had a pilot program with around 2,000 participants to test the delivery of real-time notification alerts on Visa accounts.

According to MoCo News, USAA, a bank which caters to the military, reported that $1.5 million in checks have already been deposited via an iPhone app that was launched three days ago.

The app allows iPhone owners to scan a check via the iPhone’s camera and deposit it into a USAA account. The USAA iPhone app has been installed on around 150,000 iPhoness and was updated by 58,000 users, so far.

USAA is currently working on BlackBerry, Palm Pre and Android verisons of the banking application.

For a video demo of the USAA iPhone check deposit app, read our original article. . West Virgina Federal Credit Union launched a simpler iPhone deposit app last week.

Fiserv, announced that Cleveland-based KeyBank, has chosen Mobile Money from Fiserv for its mobile banking system.

Mobile Money provides KeyBank with "triple play" technology that enables consumers to access their accounts using any of the three primary mobile access modes: a downloaded application, mobile browser, or SMS (text messaging). The text messaging capabilities are provided by VeriSign Messaging and Mobile Media, which successfully delivered more than 224 billion mobile messages through its networks in 2008.

KeyBank's selection of a mobile enterprise financial services platform from Fiserv is consistent with recent recommendations from market analysts and commentators. The recent report, How to Get Started with an Enterprise Mobile Retail Financial Services Approach, published by Gartner, suggested that banks and credit unions who select vendors that deliver enterprise channel solutions are more likely to effectively manage the long term costs of the mobile channel, while maximizing channel adoption and usage across all customer segments

Firethorn has launched a new Android mobile banking app. Firethorn's mobile banking Android application allows G1 users to securely  manage their finances, including checking balances and transaction history, transferring funds, receiving offers, viewing and paying bills, and tracking rewards points.

Users get flexibility and control in managing their finances, plus ease of use and security - all designed to achieve mass-market adoption.

Firethorn, has taken advantage of Android's open operating system, to create an application that allows consumers to securely access and manage their finances, including checking balances and transaction history, transferring funds, receiving offers, viewing and paying bills, and tracking rewards points.

The mobile banking application is customized for the G1. The unique, single-PIN access allows users to securely access accounts with multiple providers from a single, easy-to-use application - increasing usage and encouraging loyalty.

The Android application is available for download through Firethorn's financial institution partners and through the financial institution partners' Internet banking Web sites. Additionally, G1 customers will have access to any new financial institutions added in the future..

U.S. consumers believe mobile banking is important but do no not want to pay for it and also are wary of using their mobile devices such as cell phones, smartphones, and personal digital assistants (PDAs) for financial transactions and online banking, according to results of a survey conducted by KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advisory firm.

KPMG's third annual Global Consumers and Convergence survey of more than 4,000 people in 19 countries worldwide, which examines trends in the use of mobile technology, revealed that 85 percent of U.S. respondents believe mobile banking is important but they do not want to pay for it. The overwhelming majority of U.S. respondents said they had never tried banking through a mobile device (91 percent).

Of those respondents who have not conducted banking through a mobile device, 48 percent cited security and privacy as the primary reason.

Some 68 percent of U.S. respondents also said that their current bank does not offer banking through a mobile device and only nine percent said they had tried mobile banking.

By 2014, Berg Insight forecasts that mobile banking will attract 110 million users in Europe and 80 million users in North America. In Europe and North America, the technology will mainly serve as an extension of existing online banks as mobile handsets become more widely used for Internet access.

The worldwide number of users of mobile banking and related services is forecasted by Berg Insight to grow from 20 million users in 2008 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 89.0 percent to reach 913 million users in 2014.
Asia-Pacific is expected to become the most important regional market, accounting for 65 percent of the total user base. Mobile banking is also anticipated to play a key role in bringing financial services to people in the Middle East and Africa.

Informa Telecoms & Media forecasts that in 2013 almost 300 billion transactions, worth more than US$860 billion, will be conducted using a mobile phone - a twelve-fold increase in gross global transaction values in just five years.

"The mobile payments and banking market has evolved considerably over the last two years. Major industry initiatives led by the GSMA and significant commitments to the market from major financial services and telecoms leaders have changed the dynamics of this market," says John Darnbrough, Associate, Informa Telecoms & Media and author of the Mobile Payments and Banking report. "At last there is real evidence of demand for these services, some from the unlikeliest of places such as the emerging markets of Africa and Asia. The prospects for growth and the emergence of new opportunities in mobile financial services are encouraging more players to enter the market." This comprehensive report defines and analyses the mobile payments and mobile banking market, looking individually at four key sub-markets: remote mobile payments, local (NFC) mobile payments, mobile banking and mobile money transfer (MMT).

CTIA-The Wireless Association unveiled "Best Practices and Guidelines for Mobile Financial Services (MFS)," which were unanimously approved by America's leading wireless carrier companies.

The voluntary initiative was developed to provide consumers with a high level of safety and security for mobile banking, commerce and payments products and services.
 
The purpose of the guidelines is to promote clear and rewarding consumer experiences, to establish an environment where MFS transactions are authorized, secure, and compliant with applicable laws and industry guidelines, and to protect user privacy and financial data. Areas covered by the guidelines include data security, consent, disclosure and account information access, which are critical areas to assure wireless users of safety, security, and privacy. Overall, the Best Practices promote responsibility by the Application Providers to protect consumer information in all stages of a transaction.

The guidlines address important privacy concerns and help to set expectations of what MFS products and services will look like in the U.S.

The Mobile Marketing Association has published a Mobile Banking Overview.  Subjects include market size, consumer-focused mobile banking products and services, and the mobile media channels available to banks and other financial institutions.

It shows ways for optimizing mobile banking communications and campaign effectiveness within each channel.

Sean Moshir, CEO of CellTrust and Mobile Banking Sub-Committee Co-Chair at the MMA. "We believe that mobile banking will parallel the Internet era in many aspects, leading consumers and financial institutions alike to become more comfortable with mobile transactions."

Alltel teamed with mFoundry for it's Alltel Wallet, consolidated mobile banking, commerce and commerce platform. It includes many U.S. banks.

The platform has pre-built moudules for payments  and other features to allow for third party development.

"Recent research has shown that early adopter consumers are willing to switch mobile carriers to gain access to mobile payments solutions," said Drew Sievers, CEO and co-founder of mFoundry. "We are very pleased to team with Alltel in creating the Alltel Wallet and anticipate that this new application will help drive adoption of mobile financial solutions in the U.S."

The Alltel Wallet will launch in early 2009. Alltel Wireless recently launched Alltel Mobile Banking, a free service giving its customers mobile access to accounts from many of the nation's leading financial institutions. The Alltel Wallet will provide one-stop access to those financial institutions as well as access to many other payment services.

Mobile banking company, Firethorn Holdings has upgraded its mobile banking platform with more consumer features, marketing capabilities and customizing.

Expanded functionality will include typical mobile banking such as balance inquiries, funds transfers and bill pay, as well as features that provide new marketing opportunities for financial institutions, operators and consumers.

Financial institutions also will have the ability to tailor the account information displayed on the customer's mobile device for each type of account. By customizing what customers can access, banks and credit unions are able drive users to the most pertinent account information.

AT&T and Firethorn's mobile banking application for iPhone is now available. Their mobile banking lets users manage their finances, including checking balances and transaction history, transferring funds, receiving offers, viewing and paying bills, and tracking rewards points.

The service is now available for all Firethorn financial institution partners, including America First Credit Union, Arvest Bank, BancorpSouth, Carolina First, FirstBank, Mercantile Bank, SunTrust, Synovus, USAA and Wachovia. Additionally, iPhone customers will have access to any new

The Mobile Banking on AT&T application is now available as a free download from Apple's App Store on iPhone or at http://www.itunes.com/appstore/.

A new report from Aite Group, LLC reveals potential co-opportunities for banks and mobile operators to work together toward consumer acceptance of mobile banking services. The report shows that increased involvement on the side of the operator could lead to greater opportunities to market their mobile data plans.

IBC is now offering a free iPhone banking app through the iPhone App store.

"At IBC, we constantly look for ways to increase convenience by offering our customers services such as IBC Mobile," IBC Chairman and CEO Dennis E. Nixon says. "By adding the iPhone to our list of compatible devices, we are responding to a market demand, offering the most technologically advanced services paired with quick and easy access."

SMobile Systems ( www.smobilesystems.com), the leading developer of mobile security solutions, now offers Secure Mobile Banking and Trading (SMBT) endpoint security solution for financial institutions and consumers.

Sprint customers can now caccess their bank accounts and , send payments PayPal to friends and family from most web-enabled Sprint phones with MyMoneyManager.

MyMoneyManager is a downloadable application that enables Sprint customers with BB&T, Citibank, IBC Bank and PNC Bank accounts to conduct banking functions right on their phones, including checking balances, paying bills and finding nearby branches and ATMs.

MyMoneyManager also includes PayPal, making Sprint the first carrier to provide customers easy access to their PayPal accounts, allowing them to send money to almost anyone quickly via their Sprint phone.

To access, Sprint customers should go to www.sprint.com/mymoneymanager for download instructions for participating banks. Customers should then visit their bank's Web site to register and begin the application download process.

ClairMail, Inc., announced that Alerus Financial, a Midwestern-based financial services company offering banking and wealth management services, selected ClairMail to power its new mobile banking offering - Alerus Mobile Access.

Alerus Mobile Access will enable Alerus Financial bank customers to connect to their accounts via text messaging (SMS) or mobile web. The service is free to all Alerus customers and allows users to access any Alerus account, including checking, savings, money market, CDs and loans. Customers will be offered a host of secure banking capabilities and alerts on their mobile phones through ClairMail's secure solution.

ClairMail's mobile banking and payments solution delivers 2-way mobile banking functionality on all mobile phones and across all three mobile user interface types - messaging, mobile web and client applications - known as the "2-way triple play."

Visa and eight North American Banks: (PNC Bank, SunTrust Bank, U.S. Bank, Wachovia, and Wells Fargo, Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank Financial Group, and Vancity) have agreed to initiate a pilot program with up to a total of 2,000 participants to test the delivery of real-time notification alerts on Visa accounts.

The program, is designed to enhance the consumer payment experience by alerting cardholders in real-time or near real-time of transaction activity on their Visa account - typically within seconds rather than hours or days.

Participants will receive notification alerts from Visa through email or Short Message Service (SMS) delivered directly to their mobile devices. The service allows Visa cardholders to set thresholds that will trigger a transaction alert.

T hrough the alert received via email or SMS text, cardholders can verify the transaction details, and if the transaction appears to be irregular, can immediately contact their bank to help stop further transactions on the card.

The service is designed to help cardholders keep closer track of their transactions and spending levels as they go about their daily routine. According to a recent Javelin Strategy & Research report, consumers view timely alerts as a valuable resource to help detect fraud.

Verizon Wireless customers with the BlackBerry Curve 8330, BlackBerry Pearl8130 and BlackBerry 8830 World Edition smartphones can now use Verizon Wireless' Mobile Banking application. Also available on a number of popular Get It Now-capable phones, Mobile Banking offers customers the following capabilities and features on their handsets:

• Account Balance and Transaction History -- Get account balances and account transaction history.
• Transfers -- Transfer funds between eligible accounts at the same financial institution.
• Bill Payment -- View and pay bills when enrolled in their financial institution's Bill Pay service.
• Mobile History -- View the last five transactions successfully completed on their mobile devices.

Verizon Wireless customers must be account holders of a financial institution that offers Mobile Banking to enroll in the application. Currently Wachovia, Regions, SunTrust, USAA, Synovus, America First Credit Union (AFCU), Arvest, Bancorp South, FirstBank, South Financial and BECU offer the service. Once customers sign up for Mobile Banking through their financial institutions' online banking site, they will receive an eight digit secure initialization code that will allow them to access the Mobile Banking application on their phones.