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Nearly everyone today has a cellphone. Several start-ups that presented at Finovate are trying to get consumers to use them for banking and purchasing, but their challenge is to make mobile applications simple enough for mass adoption.
Bling Nation demoed a new mobile payment system that it hopes customers will find easier than swiping a debit card at the checkout line.
It works like this: A customer attaches a small chip, given to him by his bank, to the back of his phone. This chip links his bank account to the phone. He pays by tapping the phone against a payment terminal, then receives a text message from the bank a few seconds later, telling him that the sale went through and showing his new account balance.
So far Bling Nation has signed up four financial institutions to deploy its technology, which works on any phone that can receive text messages. Bling Nation is also working on signing up merchants to accept their new payment method. The company is focusing on smaller regional banks and credit unions, says Meyer Malka, co-chief executive of the company.
