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Tag: mobile-banking

  • Gartner: The Use of Mobile Fraud Detection in Mobile Commerce Environments is Imperative

    By year-end 2013, location information or profile information from mobile phones will be used to validate 90 percent of mobile transactions, according to Gartner.

    The research firm says that the rapid adoption of smartphones is forcing banks, social networks and other e-commerce providers to implement the kinds of fraud detection capabilities that have become mainstream with fixed-line computing.

    "Because of the improving browser experiences on smartphones, mobile commerce and transaction execution are set to increase rapidly," said William Clark, research vice president at Gartner. "We estimate that by the end of 2013, 12.5 percent of all e-commerce transactions will be mobile."

    "Enterprise applications must detect fraud in these mobile environments, but fraud detection tools available today that work in fixed-line computing environments don’t work well or at all in the mobile world," Clark said.

    "There are a number of methods that can be implemented to help enterprises detect fraud in the mobile space, but they are still in their early stages of development, and it will take until at least 2012 for them to transform from embryonic applications to technically mature systems that work easily and transparently across disparate mobile networks," he added.

    According to Gartner, fraud prevention methods available today to mobile applications include:

    Mobile device identification — This is enabled through a JavaScript on the server that the user logs in to, which captures whatever information it can get from the user’s browser and phone, depending on whether the user is using a browser or native application. If the application is browser-based, then the JavaScript application captures whatever information it can get from the user’s browser to uniquely identify that particular user’s browser and mobile device. If the mobile application is native and residing on the mobile handset, native applications can additionally gather the phone’s serial number and network card number. This will require opt-in by the user.

    Location of device — This is based on the phone’s location information independent of the browser (IP address), so the user does not have to have his or her mobile browser application open for this to work; the phone only needs to be turned on. Enterprises may want to check and correlate the location of the device relative to anything else they know about the user’s location through other systems they may interact with at the enterprise. For mobile phones, there are two architectures that are used to obtain location information: One relies on device information (e.g., using the GPS-API applications that the user must opt into); the other employs APIs provided through mobile network operators that don’t require the users to opt in to releasing this information.

    Some online fraud detection vendors are starting to tune their risk scoring and/or rule-based models specifically for mobile applications — For example, some vendors are looking at the mobile device itself, the location of the phone, and the behavior of the user inside the host application while transacting from the phone. This area is very new to the fraud detection vendors, as there is little mobile transaction experience to draw on in order to build effective risk models and scores that significantly improve on risk models that have already been built for fixed-line computing. It tries to combine some of the methods listed above, including mobile device identification and examining the location of the mobile phone in relation to other information known about the user and his/her location.

    Gartner estimates that 70 percent of the largest 20 global card issuers (who authorize more than 50 percent of all payment card transactions) will gradually adopt mobile context information to help detect fraud on fixed-line transactions, and that by year-end 2015, more than 15 percent of all payment card transactions will be validated using context-aware profile information.

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  • IDC: Mobile Banking Usage Nearly Doubled Since Last Year

    IDC has released a new report, 2009 Consumer Mobile Banking Preferences Survey Results – Waiting for Takeoff, that reveals that mobile banking has seen an increase in usage and in institutions offering the service in the last year. In fact, reported mobile banking usage has almost doubled since last year’s survey.

    However, according to the survey, while mobile banking may have finally turned the corner with customer acceptance, it is not a mainstream channel and in order to be successful, financial institutions need to be strategic about their mobile offerings.

    In addition, realistic expectations, an understanding that there are few to no revenue opportunities around mobile currently, and the backing of senior management, are all key to mobile success.

    According to the report, the challenge with mobile banking continues to be that it introduces a new cost structure without providing opportunities for revenue. Consumers have become accustomed to having more for free, and the convenience of mobile banking so far does not appear to be something that people are willing to pay for.

    However, enhancements to mobile platforms – including the addition of adding deposit capture and payment solutions – will provide more opportunities for financial institutions to potentially gain some revenue opportunities.

    IDC recommends that financial institutions begin expanding what they offer, marketing these offerings as easier to use, and providing more opportunities around payments and fund movement. Financial institutions that can capitalize on this will be better positioned to both obtain and retain customers.

    Key findings include:
    • Usage was up across all channels, requiring bankers to manage more transactions across an ever-expanding portfolio of delivery options.
    • The financial services industry should leverage its branch network to compete against potential nontraditional entrants that lack the brick-and-mortar infrastructure.
    • SMS is the most popular form of mobile banking.
    • Customized alerts and payments outside of network are gaining in popularity, while check image view and getting rate information on the mobile device appear to be fading.
    • Demographics for mobile banking customers were skewed toward a younger male audience, but all demographics are showing usage.

    "Consumers are transaction and information happy, and the branch continues to be as popular as ever," said Marc DeCastro, Research Manager, Consumer Banking and Credit, IDC Financial Insights.

    "The financial services industry recognizes the importance and advantage it has with its brick-and-mortar branch networks, evidenced by continued branch investment. Our survey, however, shows that consumers are getting more and more comfortable opening accounts outside of the branch. While many financial institutions have jumped into the mobile banking space and are offering solutions, some are still pondering their entrance. Those that have already installed a solution may also be looking at modifications or enhancements to their first-generation rollouts."

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  • IDC: Mobile Payments Will Take Longer To Bear Fruit than Most Observers Hope

    IDC Financial Insights recently released a new report, which analyzes the mobile payment and mobile banking space in the Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region.

    The research group highlights that the mobile commerce payments market still has a long way to go before any serious impact will be felt by consumers or by the retail industry.

    “Steady moves by card issuers to increase the adoption of contactless cards and the increasing acceptance of mobile banking as a channel are prerequisites for the emergence of any meaningful, full-sized mobile payments market in Western Europe,” say analysts.

    IDC estimates that the share of contactless/mobile/remote payment transaction in 2015 will be no more than $125 billion with less than 13% of European mobile handset users registered to use a payment service.

    According to the report, the mobile payments industry must focus less on the use of advanced technology to partially replace existing payment methods, and more on the more practical (and sometimes mundane) application of the technology to specific processes.

    A close analysis of the industry shows that over the next three to five years the lack of a positive business case for all players will hamper many mobile payments projects. IDC also predicts that mobile banking (account info access and alerts) will blaze a trail over the next two to three years, laying the foundations for mobile payments.

    According to IDC analysts, key foundations for the success of retail mobile payments in Western Europe lie in the advancement of contactless debit/credit cards POS infrastructure.

    "Mobile payments are still an emerging technology capability that will take significantly longer to bear fruit than most industry observers hope," said Trevor LaFleche, senior research analyst, with IDC Financial Insights’ European banking practice for EMEA.

    "Shifting technological foundations of what constitutes a mobile device will confound industry purists, as has often happened when a technology does not take off as predicted. The varied nature of existing infrastructure and consumer need will continue to split the EMEA region into three distinct segments, which will need to be uniquely served to improve the penetration of the correct payment service to the correct market," he added.

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  • Berg Insight: 894 Million Mobile Banking Users by 2015

    According to a new research report by Berg Insight, the worldwide number of users of mobile banking and related services is forecasted to grow from 55 million users in 2009 (at a CAGR of 59.2 percent) to reach 894 million users in 2015.

    Th research group notes that over the past year many of the leading players in both the telecom industry and the financial sector have intensified their efforts to bring financial services to the world’s unbanked population. According to the report, Asia-Pacific is expected to become the most important regional market, accounting for more than half 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. 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. By 2015, Berg Insight forecasts that mobile banking will attract 115 million users in Europe and 86 million users in North America.

    “Mobile handsets are in an excellent position to become the primary digital channel for providers of banking and related financial services on emerging markets,” said Marcus Persson, Telecom Analyst at Berg Insight.

    “People who sign up for their first mobile subscription today will likely open their first bank account in the coming years and thus join the modern financial system. Mobile operators can play a vital role in this development and will have the opportunity to take an active part in the creation of some of tomorrow’s most important financial institutions based in Asia and Africa,” he added.

    In addition to traditional retail banking, the report also identifies international money transfer as an important revenue source for mobile industry players. Analysts forecast that 3–15 percent of the international money transfers currently handled by various formal or informal agent networks will be carried out using a mobile handset by 2015, generating US$ 1.2–6.2 billion in service revenues.

  • Customised Mobile Banking Key To Future Success

    Lukasz Michalkiewicz, from smartphone software developer eLeader, tells smartphone.biz-news about developments in mobile banking and the importance of tailoring applications to mobile platforms.

    The Polish company has developed the first mobile banking solution customised for specific mobile operating systems.

    Polish software developer eLeader isn’t the first to realise that the mobile world’s different operating systems make it advisable to develop applications tailored to each platform.

    It is, however, the first to develop a mobile banking solution that actually does just that. The user interface of its MobileBanking platform has been designed specifically for smartphones with Symbian, Windows Mobile and Blackberry operating systems.

    The solution has just been deployed by Raiffeisen Bank Polska SA, a subsidiary of Raiffeisen International – making it the first time a tailored mobile banking app has been used in Europe.

    While the development hasn’t exactly sent shock-waves around the mobile world, it does point to the growing acceptance and increasing adoption of mobile banking.

    In the US, the majority of the major banks now offer mobile services, including Bank of America Corp., which has signed up 2.4 million mobile banking subscribers.

    It also highlights the importance of paying attention to user experience when devising potentially complex mobile applications.

    Mobile is Different

    Lukasz Michalkiewicz, account manager with eLeader, told smartphone.biz-news that too often developments for the mobile are treated in the same way as for the PC.

    He said the variations in operating systems, user interfaces, internet browsers, screens and methods of data entry all had to be taken into account.

    "In the PC world there is a dominant operating system and browsers, but in the mobile world it’s different," he said.

    "A really intuitive mobile experience comes from applications tailored to all the different operating systems, browsers and so on.

    "We see that as the way to ensure an intuitive and truly user-friendly mobile experience."

    eLeader plans to roll the solution out to the iPhone in the next few months.

    m-Banking’s Extended Functionality

    As well as improving the UI, the application gives users to access to services, such as being able to contact their financial adviser directly.

    Michalkiewicz said Raiffeisen Bank’s VIP Mobile mobile banking solution extends the scope of m-banking to include advanced functionalities once only found in internet banking applications.

    He said it allows the bank’s customers to conduct the full range of common financial operations via their mobile handset in a very intuitive way.

    "Everything you can do on your PC, you can do on your mobile," he said. "But functionality is extended because with a mobile you can do it anywhere."

    Raiffeisen Bank is a part of Raiffeisen International, a banking group operating in 17 markets of the Central and Eastern European region (CEE) and with 14.6 million customers.

    Mariusz Glinski, head of electronic banking at the bank, said it has developed its mobile channel over many years, initially offering simple SIM-based software and later Java-based applications.

    He said that if m-banking is to be taken seriously then it has to be accepted that the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to mobile applications will only go so far in today’s market.

    "To create truly usable applications we must take into account the characteristics of each type of mobile device," he said.

    "This is the only way to provide successful solutions which consumers really want to use on their handsets."

    It certainly seems as though mobile banking is moving towards wider acceptance and uptake. Please let us know your thoughts on the technology and available solutions.

  • Mobile Banking To Flourish – Security Still Issue


    More than 150 million mobile phone subscribers worldwide will carry out banking transactions on their handsets within three years.

    That’s the prediction of a Juniper Research report, which also expects that much of the growth in this area to come from mature markets.

    The analysts believe this will be down to users coming to rely on mobile banking rather than adoption in emerging markets where financial services are lacking.

    However, Howard Wilcox, a Juniper analyst, warns that security will be paramount to the continued success of the service.

    He said user perception will largely dictate whether the service is trusted, regardless of the reality of the strength of the security.

    Wilcox said that mobile banking is currently most advanced in the Far East, but there are growing numbers of mobile banking services being offered in North America and Western Europe.

    The developed nations of the Far East, North America and Western Europe are forecast to account for over 70 per cent of the mobile banking user base by 2011.

    "Transactional or "push" mobile banking is being offered increasingly by banks via downloadable applications or the mobile web, complementing existing SMS messaging services for balance and simple information enquiries," he said.

    "Mobile banking is a key element in banks’ distribution channel strategies as they compete to attract and retain customers."

    The Juniper report said a key element to the service’s growth in mature economies is the extra user convenience afforded.

    With many mature markets approaching, or already having exceeded 100 per cent capacity, mobile banking is an addition to the wide choice of applications and services accessible via the handset to make life easier, especially via smartphones such as the iPhone.

    Do you use your smartphone for banking transactions? We would be interested in hearing your experience of mobile banking services.

  • Future SIM Cards Capable of Mass Audio and Video Storage


    Infineon Technologies and Micron Technology have announced a joint-venture to develop high-density subscriber identity module (HD-SIM) cards with a capacity greater than 128MB.

    HD-SIMs combine high density with improved security functionality, which the firms say enables operators to offer graphically-rich, value-added services such as mobile banking and contactless mobile ticketing.

    Operators are also able to securely update or delete applications through their wireless network while new applications, services and settings can be downloaded or pushed to the HD-SIM at any time.

    Working in close technical collaboration, both companies are leveraging their respective expertise to architect modular chip solutions that combine an Infineon security microcontroller with Micron’s NAND flash memory with features designed specifically for HD-SIM applications.

    Micron will manufacture the NAND on 50-nanometer (nm) and 34-nm process technology.

    Dr. Helmut Gassel, vice president and general manager of the Chip Card and Security division at Infineon Technologies, said: "Infineon envisions a new role of future SIM cards that will be capable of audio and video mass content storage and even Flash card replacement."

    Prototypes are expected to be available in the autumn of 2009 and will be sold in die form or in a chip card IC package.