Mobile Banking Archives - Page 18 of 20

Geezeo Marries Account Aggregation with Mobile Banking

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 15, 2007
Categories: Account Aggregation, CashEdge, Geezeo, Mobile Banking, Personal Financial Management

The latest entry in the mobile banking space is Geezeo, who unveiled an account aggregation/mobile banking mashup Sunday called Geezeo Mobile. Take a few minutes and watch their screencast (here), which does a good job explaining how it works. Geezeo recently changed its name from DebtFolio and still operates a credit card selector at debtfolio.com. The company also offers a student loan consolidation service, called Geezeo Student.

Here's how it Geezeo Mobile works:

At the Geezeo website, list the usernames/passwords and challenge answers if necessary, to any credit card or bank account you wish to track (see screenshot below)
Register your mobile phone with Geezeo
Send a text message to Geezeo, and it will return a text message listing your current balances at all the tracked accounts (see inset)

The account aggregation is powered by CashEdge, which has considerable credibility in the banking industry, but is an unknown with consumers.

Analysis
As much as I personally love this service, it's probably ahead of its time, at least as a standalone product. It's a combination of two little-used services, text message banking + account aggregation, offered by an unknown company. Furthermore, massive security and privacy concerns are barely addressed, and it doesn't work in IE6. But it is a beta offering in its first week, so those things will be fixed. And the mobile service is just a piece of a larger personal finance offering according to the email sent to Geezeo registrants May 13:

Geezeo Mobile and Geezeo Student are part of a much larger online personal finance manager that's soon to be released. Geezeo will feature solutions to help you manage your money, keep track of where your money goes, provide suggestions for improvement, help you meet your financial goals and connect with others.

We have yet to connect with the founders, but according to MobileCrunch, the business model is contextual advertising. If that's true, Geezeo will need to appeal to the youth market, where bank account balances are lower, security concerns are fewer, and texting is the norm. But a better business model might be licensing the tool to banks and credit unions. In one fell swoop, the Geezeo app would give a financial institution a unique mobile banking offering, an entry into account aggregation, and an appealing platform for younger customers.

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1995 Web Pioneer, Salem Five Launches Mobile Banking

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 8, 2007
Categories: Loans & Credit, Mobile Banking, Salem Five Savings Bank

Twelve years ago I spoke at the very first for-profit conference on online banking. It was held in San Francisco and put on by IQPC. One of the handful of bankers taking the stage was the marketing director from a small Massachusetts-based bank, Salem Five Savings Bank.

In 1995, Salem Five was one of the first 100 banks in the world to launch a website and continued to pioneer website functions during the last century, even launching a dedicated direct bank <directbanking.com> which has now been rolled back into the parent.

One early innovation was a mortgage lead generation tool consisting of an interactive $100-off closing costs coupon. It was still in use several years later when we named it an Online Banking Report Best of the Web winner in 1997 (see circa 1997 screenshot above, and the Online Banking Report article archived here).

It was "interactive" because in order to print it, the customer was required to first enter their name and phone number into the on-screen coupon. It was a great promotional idea, especially for 1995. And I still remember receiving a phone call the Saturday morning after I tested the coupon from the cheery Boston-based loan agent, wondering if I was moving to their area and interested in a mortgage. To this day, one of the best follow-ups I've experienced to an online lead.

Mobile Banking Launch
In April, Salem Five took another pioneering step, becoming one of the first community banks pushing mobile banking (here). However, its mShift-powered service is a WAP solution, not likely to be widely adopted in its current form. Last week another mShift client, Cardinal Bank, launched a similar mobile offering (here).

The bank is making sure its customers know about it with a page-dominating banner in heavy rotation on its homepage. Note: Salem Five uses both "wireless" and "mobile" to describe the service.

Salem Five homepage (8 May 2007)

Salem Five mobile banking landing page

For more information on mobile banking see our full report at our sister publication, Online Banking Report (here).

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Jupiter and Compete Reach Opposite Conclusions on Current U.S. Demand for Mobile Banking

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 2, 2007
Categories: Metrics & Market Research, Mobile Banking

Market research is an amazing thing. You can take the same study and reach two entirely different conclusions. Or you can achieve totally different results by the way the question is worded, what multiple choice answers are provided, what questions preceded it, or even the tone or style of the interviewer. Then there are issues with how the sample was selected, online vs. phone, whether it is representative of a national audience, whether incentives were provided, etc. etc. etc.

That's not to say that market research should be ignored. Just that you need to be careful with it. And if you make decisions based on market research, you need to understand how and when it was collected, what the exact questions were, and who underwrote the study.

Case in point: Mobile banking demand

In the past two weeks, two reliable research companies, Jupiter Research and Compete, Inc. released research finding on whether U.S. consumers think they will want to use mobile banking when it becomes available. This type of "what if" question is even more problematic than other types of market research. Because the participant doesn't use the service in question, the interviewer first has to paint a picture of what it might look like at some future point, then ask the respondent what their level of interest is. So, the results are highly dependent on how the hypothetical service is described, and if it's a telephone interview, how enthusiastic the questioner is about it. Imagine the difference in response to these two questions:

1. How would you like to press a button on your cellphone that gave you instant, secure, free access to your bank account balance so you didn't ever bounce a check again?

2. At some point in the future, you might be able to download and install a Java application over the air for your mobile device that provided a subset of the functionality of online banking ported to a 2 inch screen. And, as long as you never left your phone somewhere by mistake, it should be as secure. How excited would you be about that?

Unfortunately, I haven't seen the exact questions or methodology used to produce the following press releases, so I can't say exactly how the companies reached their conclusions. However, Compete will be presenting their finding in a free webinar Thursday, so you might want to listen in. If you can't make it, I will file a followup blog post. Full disclosure: After spending much of Q1 researching and writing about mobile banking and payments, and yes, selling reports of my findings, I'm firmly in the pro-mobile banking camp (see previous coverage here).

Finding 1: Considerable interest in Mobile Banking

Author: Compete, Inc.

Link: http://blog.compete.com/2007/05/01/mobile-banking-rebirth/

Synopsis: In an April survey of online banking users, only 19% said they would definitely not use it, while 11% said they definitely would. The vast majority (70%) between the extremes need more info before they decide. There is a measurable advantage for the negatives (38% won't/probably won't use) over the positives (29% will/probably will), but that's doesn't seem particularly negative for a service that does not yet exist.

Note: Compete will be presenting the results in a free webinar Thursday, May 3, at 2PM Eastern. Presenters: Paul Zeckser, Director Financial Services Practice & Ryan Burke, Director, Telecommunications and Media Practice

Finding 2: Little interest in Mobile Banking

Author: Jupiter Research

Link: http://www.jupiterresearch.com/bin/item.pl/press:press_release/2007/id=07.04.23-mobile_banking.html/

Synopsis: Limited data was released to the public, but in a press release last week, with the title, JupiterResearch Finds Limited Consumer Interest in Mobile Banking, the company said only 8% of consumers were interested in mobile banking. No supporting data was provided. We will invite report author Asaf Buchner, who I respect greatly, to provide more background on Jupiter's findings.

Note: Below is the exact quote from the press release. The specific scenario here, "using mobile browsing to check account balances," may be part of the reason for the lower interest. Only about 10% of U.S mobile phone owners use mobile browsing today.

Just eight percent of online consumers who own a cell phone are interested in using mobile browsing to check account balances.

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Citi Mobile Launches in Southern California

By Jim Bruene Posted on April 3, 2007
Categories: Citibank, mFoundry, Mobile Banking

The long-awaited launch of True Mobile Banking 2.0 (note 1) in the United States happened yesterday with Citibank beginning a limited rollout of its mFoundry-powered downloadable mobile banking service. The service is currently available to Citibank customers in Southern California with nationwide rollout this summer. However, the bank's website today merely says it's "coming soon" (see screenshot below; link here).

The new service is not mentioned on the main Citibank website, unless you use the site search feature (see note 2).

The single mobile banking page doesn't tell us much we didn't already know (see previous coverage here), other than a few minor details are revealed for the first time:

Mobile PIN number is the same as what's used for regular phone banking; PIN numbers can be created online through a link on the mobile page
To enroll, users enter their mobile number, carrier and phone model and a link to the downloadable application is sent via text message

A short four-screen demo (below) shows users how to activate the service once it's been downloaded:

There was lot's of new coverage on launch day, indicating that Citi made the press rounds prior to launch:

Steve Bills from American Banker chimes in with a brief piece using consultant Richard Crone as a reality check on Citi's PR material (here)
Eileen Alt Powell put this out on the AP Wire
Time even picked up the story (here)

Note:

1. True Mobile Banking is defined as transactional banking directly from a mobile phone, without the need to access a website (WAP). The 2.0 means it's a second-generation technology, not to be confused with the circa 1999-2002 version 1 that worked on a limited universe of PDAs.

2. Accessed the website from a Seattle IP address via my laptop which does NOT know that I am a Citi customer.

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Wachovia, SunTrust, and Regions Bank Team with AT&T Wireless and Firethorn for Mobile Banking

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 26, 2007
Categories: Cingular, Firethorn, Mobile Banking, SunTrust, Wachovia

Once Citibank and Bank of America started making mobile banking noises, we didn't expect it to be long before others jumped into the market (note 1). So it came as no surprise today that SunTrust, Regions, and Wachovia announced full-service downloadable mobile banking apps (see press release here). No firm dates were released, but according to the Washington Post (here), AT&T will include the Firethorn software in handsets beginning in mid-year and support the launch with a multi-million dollar ad campaign.

It's a huge win for the Atlanta-based startup Firethorn Mobile, who in a single day picked up contracts with the fourth, eighth, and fifteenth largest U.S. consumer banks (see chart below). Just four months after its coming out party at BAI's Retail Delivery Conference, Firethorn boasts a partnership with one of the biggest consumer spenders on the planet and three of the largest banks the U.S. Not a bad quarter.

In addition, Firethorn's beta partner, BancorpSouth officially launched the production version today (press release here). The free service works only at AT&T/Cingular and only with the following five phone models: Motorola V3 Razr, V551, V557, L7 SLVR, or the LG CU500. See previous coverage here.

The BancorpSouth website today had a promotional link for mobile banking in its online banking area (see banner above) and a brief webpage and signup form (click on screenshot right for closeup).

Update: American Banker's Steve Bills reported that Wachovia is planning an October rollout and SunTrust is looking at a "test" of up to 100,000 customers later this year, with full rollout in 2008 (full article here).

Note:

1. See our full forecast in Online Banking Report 138/139.

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Mobile Payment Metrics: NTT DoCoMo

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 26, 2007
Categories: DoCoMo, Metrics & Market Research, Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments

In today's special Technology Report in Wall Street Journal, the lead article was "What's New in Wireless," by Amol Sharma. The article's main focus is mobile video and advertising, but there are several paragraphs about mobile payments, mentioning the Cingular/AT&T/Citibank cellphone payment trial through MasterCard's PayPass. The only statistical backup provided was the 1.3 million Japanese mobile users signed up for NTT DoCoMo's year-old mobile credit-card service (note 1).

That number seemed low based on what I've been hearing about the popularity of all things mobile in Asia. It turns out the 1+ million number is just DoCoMo's credit-card slice of the mobile payments pie.

In Japan, per capita credit card usage is just one-seventh that of United States (note 2) and stored value is much more popular. DoCoMo has 20 million stored-value mobile wallets in place, 15x the number of credit users. The mobile wallet penetration is approximately 40% of DoCoMo's 52 million wireless subscribers (note 3).

That's a healthy uptake rate for a product that was introduced less than three years ago. Even the year-old mobile credit card adoption is dramatic given the country has just 130 million credit cards outstanding. DoCoMo's market share is already higher than 1% of total cards outstanding, the equivalent of 8 million accounts in the United Sates (note 4).

Interestingly, part of the reason for the popularity of cash replacements in Japan is that the lowest paper-money denomination is 1,000 Yen, or about $8.80, making coins more common and somewhat less convenient for low-value payments compared to the U.S. and its ubiquitous $1 bill. However, the stored-value mobile wallet is expected to eventually become popular in the U.S. once merchant acceptance grows, especially in the youth and underbanked segments with less access to traditional bank cards; but it won't likely reach current levels of Japanese penetration for another five to seven years (note 5).

Notes:

1. According to a Feb. 1 article in the Motley Fool, DoCoMo has 1.5 million users who've applied for and activated the credit card function in their phone. The number of outlets accepting DoCoMo mobile payments was expected to top 150,000 this month. DoCoMo allows other credit card issuers to use its ID platform to delivery card services to its customers. DoCoMo also began issuing its own mobile credit card under the DCMX brand last year. For more information, watch the DoCoMo's video about its mobile wallet (here). The wallet discussion begins at about the 4.5-minute mark of the 16 minute video. DoCoMo's ID credit-card platform and its own DCMX credit card discussion begins at the 6-minute mark and ends a little before the 10-minute mark. The rest of the video discusses i-Mode's international growth and is not directly related to payments.

2. According the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, in 2004 American's made 84 credit card purchases annually per capita, vs. 11 in Japan (see report here). According to the online CIA Sourcebook, in mid-July 2006 the population of Japan was 127 million compared to 298 million in the United States.

3. According to the company, DoCoMo has a 55% share of the Japanese cellphone market.

4. The U.S. has about 800 million credit cards outstanding (according to FRB Philadelphia, see #2.

5. See our forecast in Online Banking Report 138/139 published three weeks ago.

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Citibank Mobile Getting Closer: FAQs Posted

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 20, 2007
Categories: Citibank, mFoundry, Mobile Banking

Citibank recently posted a short FAQ (click here or view screenshot below) on its website that confirms what we had suspected about its upcoming launch of mFoundry-powered Citi Mobile (see previous coverage here and here).

Here's what we now know:

1. The service will be FREE of charge

2. It will be a downloadable app (unlike the SMS-based service in India shown above)

3. It will work on approximately 100 cellphone handsets

4. It will work across multiple wireless carriers

5. It will include bill payments and funds transfer

6. A direct link to customer service is provided

What we still don't know:

1. Will is support SMS/text messaging?

2. What login/security process will be used?

3. Will it work with all Citi checking accounts or only certain products?

4. Will it work across all major carriers?

5. Will it require a full data plan at the carriers?

As you can see from the Citibank India graphic at the top of the page, major banks offer mobile access in much of the world. But in the U.S., the Citibank launch is a major milestone as the first downloadable application that can be used on common handsets. For more information, see our latest Online Banking Report, Mobile Banking & Payments 2.0 (OBR 138/139).

Click on the screenshot right, to see the Citibank FAQ on mobile banking. Or go directly to its website here.

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Preparing for the Mobile Future: Adding Fields to your Customer Information System

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 19, 2007
Categories: Mobile Banking, Service

Looking through my notes from the Mobile Payments Forum last week (post here), I came across this tidbit mentioned by several speakers:

One thing you should do right away is capture mobile phone number(s) in your customer information system.

Not only does this provide a marketing database for people to contact when you introduce mobile services (note 1), it provides an alternative number for account problems now.

You should add the fields to your online banking My Account area and also begin asking for it on account signup forms and loan applications. While you are at it, seek permission to send a text message(s) when new mobile services are launched.

Note:

1. We are not suggesting you telemarket to the mobile numbers; that's a bad idea. But you should contact these customers through normal channels (email, mail) when mobile options become available. Also, seek permission to send a text message(s) to inform users of new mobile options.

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Future Friday: Zillow Powers One-Click Home Values on Your Mobile

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 16, 2007
Categories: Mobile Banking, Mortgage, Refi & Home Equity, Zillow

Technology adoption is often hard to understand. Sure it can move in a straight, relatively predictable lines; think Moore's Law. Other times, consumer behavior defies logic. For instance, 10 years ago could you have imagined that teenagers today would frequently communicate using a tiny 10-key pad; closer to the Morse code of 100 years ago than the Jetson's world of flying cars and automatic doors (note 1).

Then there are times when technology leaps forward faster than even the most optimistic would have predicted. Case in point: Even a year ago, who would have guessed that on most streets in the country, you can now press a button on your cellphone and receive a near- instantaneous text message listing the current values of the three houses closest to where you are standing.

Using Zillow's API, uLocate created the ultimate mobile real-estate service for its WHERE suite <where.com>. Currently, it works on just six GPS-enabled phones running on the Sprint or Nextel network. And, you'll need to be in a neighborhood tracked by home-value superstore Zillow.

It does cost $2.99/mo (note 2), but signup is simple (see screenshot above) and even if only half the Realtors in the country subscribed, revenues would be $1.5 million per month. And how much would a nearby mortgage broker or Realtor pay to be listed in the message? Yeah, we wish we would have thought of it too.

But there's no indication that uLocate has an exclusive on this service. Check with Zillow and see if your financial institution could recreate this service in your area using the same API. It could be a great way to create new mortgage leads.

For more info see Zillow's blog entry here.

Notes:

1. Three days ago, I was in a conference where one of the speakers said his teenage daughter sent 2500 text messages last MONTH, more than 30 per DAY.

2. The monthly fee includes other WHERE services, see its website for more details.

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Conference Notebook: Mobile Payment Forum

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 14, 2007
Categories: Conference Calendar, Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments

I attended the public portion of the 2-day Mobile Payment Forum Spring Member Meeting in San Diego yesterday <mobilepaymentforum.org>. The group was formed by MasterCard, Visa, American Express and JCB more than five years ago to help develop standards and promote best practices in mobile payments.

The current board of directors:

Simon Pugh, VP Standards & Infrastructure, MasterCard
Stephanie Ericksen, VP Product Technology & Integration, Visa
Martin Harrison, Head of Sales and Strategy, First Data
Christopher J. Bierbaum, Product Development, Emerging Products Group, Sprint
Bob Adamany, VeriSign
Oliver Kelly, Vodafone

It was a pay-to-present day, with each sponsor allotted time based on the size of their financial contribution. Six gold sponsors spoke for 30 minutes, a silver sponsor was allotted 15 minutes, and the only platinum one was handed the podium for a full hour. Consultant Richard Crone of Crone Consulting gave the keynote and handled the introductions and wrap-up.

Platinum Sponsor:
ClairMail: Joseph Salesky, CEO

Gold Sponsors:
Firethorn Mobile: Tripp Rackley, CEO
PayCash Mobile (Cyphermint): CEO, Joseph Barboza
eBizMobility: CEO, Jeremy Kagan
Erico: VP Marketing, Larry Loper
mFoundry: VP Product, John Pizzi

Silver Sponsor:
Sapphire Mobile Systems: Rick Rasansky, CEO

For the most part, the speakers did a commendable job keeping things informative and not heading straight to sales-pitch mode (see note 1). The highlight was Firethorn CEO Tripp Rackley and ClairMail CEO making impassioned pitches on opposite sides of the SMS banking (ClairMail) vs. downloaded app (Firethorn) continuum (note 2). And as usual, Richard Crone of Crone Consulting set the stage with an entertaining and fact-filled keynote (note 3).

Despite being a payments forum, most of the talk centered around online banking (Firethorn, ClairMail, mFoundry, Sapphire), mobile advertising (Erico), and ecommerce (eBizMobility). Only PayCash Mobile and keynoter Richard Crone spent more than a few minutes on payments.

The main reason: Mobile banking is on the verge of breaking out, and banks are reaching for their checkbooks. With far more infrastructure hurdles, cellphone-based payments will lag mobile banking adoption by five years (see forecast in our most-recent Online Banking Report, 138/139).

I'll post a few more items from the conference during the next few days.

Note:

1. Hint for conference attendees: Always look for private-company CEO presentations. Private-company CEOs usually do a great job speaking about the broader issues, understanding that their industry knowledge is a far better sales pitch for their organization than a dozen "About us" slides. Marketing VPs on the other hand, seem enamored with how many times they can work their company and client names into the presentation deck. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of many public-company CEOs who are so ham-strung by disclosure regulations, they can hardly say anything that's not already widely known.

2. For more on the mobile banking debate, see our latest Online Banking Report, "Mobile Banking & Payments" (OBR 138/139 here).

3. Disclosure: Mr. Crone has been an occasional contributor to our sister publication Online Banking Report. His first article appeared in our 1996 issue.

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Citibank Mobile Banking Delayed Until April

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 2, 2007
Categories: Citibank, Credit/Debit Cards, Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments

In a multi-page look at mobile banking (here), BankRate.com reporter Laura Bruce quotes Citibank's Rob Julavits as saying the bank will be:

…testing (mobile banking) in March and allowing customers to enroll in April, with a broad launch expected before midyear

That's a few months later than originally expected. The bank sent Citi Mobile disclosures to checking account customers in January indicating the service would be live in February (see article here). Citibank already provides mobile access to its credit cards in Japan (link here).

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Mobile Banking & Payments 2.0 Released: The Latest from Online Banking Report

By Jim Bruene Posted on February 26, 2007
Categories: ClairMail, Metrics & Market Research, mFoundry, Mobile Banking, Online Banking Report

We've finally wrapped up our latest report, Mobile Banking & Payments 2.0, published by Online Banking Report, our by-subscription research division (see note 1).

Link to the PDF abstract and table of contents here
Link for subscriber access, or to purchase, here

Work on this report started at BAI's Retail Delivery Conference in mid-November where we scheduled a series of briefings with the three mobile players in attendance: ClairMail, Firethorn Mobile, and mFoundry. As reported here previously, we were mightily impressed with the opportunities available in the mobile space.

After three months of looking at mobile banking, talking to more players, and trying to develop a reasonable forecast, we have slightly tempered our initial enthusiasm. While we remain optimistic that the mobile channel will someday eclipse desktop online banking in terms of pageviews and routine transactions, in North America mobile banking is NOT a new channel, but rather an extension of existing sales and service channels (see note 2). And with few fees expected, the business case must be made on the softer retention benefits and customer service savings.

The Forecast
Even with a challenging business case, most top-10 retail banks are headed to market in 2007-2008 with some form of mobile banking. We forecast that 25% of U.S. households will use mobile bank access by the middle of the next decade. The mobile banking adoption curve for the next 10+ years will be virtually identical to that of online banking from 1995 to the present (see inset above and note 3).

But we are much less certain on which method of mobile banking will cross the chasm. Unlike Web-based banking, there are powerful entities, called wireless carriers, that stand between the bank and its customers in True Mobile Banking. So it seems that text/SMS-based services will lead the initial wave, because they are less dependent on the carrier and most under-40 users are already using them. However, long term, we believe more complete one-button (see note 4) solutions will prevail. And while we do forecast the adoption for all three methods, there are too many variables to be certain. A year from now, things should be quite a bit clearer.

Subscribers, please post your comments about this report below, or email them directly to jim@netbanker.com.

End Notes:

1. For those of you that may be new readers, this blog is written by the publishers of Online Banking Report, an industry newsletter that began 12 years ago. Many of our blog postings are a by-product of the research we are doing for Online Banking Report, so you'll often see references to our more in-depth research published there, available by subscription only.

2. This is different in other countries where branch and PC-based banking is less pervasive.

3. U.S. adoption by household, +/- 25%. The underlying data and assumptions for this table are in the full report, OBR 138/139, as referenced in the opening paragraph.

4. One-button mobile banking is our name for banking functions that may be called up on the mobile screen through a link on the main menu. It could be a WAP-based mobile website or a downloadable application.

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