Monthly Archive for November, 2009

Scotiabank to Launch Mobile Banking Solution

North America’s premier financial institution Scotiabank has recently announced that it plans on offering mobile banking services to its users as soon as the spring of 2010 arrives. According to the company, the move will be made through the partnership it has recently signed with M-Com, an international mobile banking and payments solution provider.

“With more than 22 million cell phone subscribers in Canada, wireless phones are among the fastest growing consumer products in history,” said Mike Henry, senior vice-president, Sales & Service, Scotiabank. “Canadians rely on the convenience of mobile devices to help them manage their busy lifestyles, and having the ability to do their banking from their mobile devices will simplify their lives that much more.”

According to Henry, the launch of a mobile banking service from Scotiabank is also a way for the company to show its commitment towards delivering some of the most innovative, convenient and secure banking solutions for its customers. Scotiabank Group and its affiliates have operations in around 50 countries around the world, and account for a number of approximately 12.8 million customers.

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November 30, 2009 | Competition, MarketWatch and Payments | Closed

Mobile Money Ventures, CPNI partner for mobile payments offer

Mobile Money Ventures and CPNI Inc. say they will be working together to offer financial institutions a comprehensive solution that integrates CPNI’s mobile commerce solutions into MMV’s mobile financial services platform.

According to a news release issued by the two companies, the relationship combines CPNI’s PATsend remote mobile payment technology into MMV’s next generation mobile platform, with the opportunity to integrate PATbuy’s mobile purchases in the next phase.

MMV’s current offering enables consumers to handle banking, bill payments, stock trades, tracking and budgeting on any mobile handset or wireless carrier. By incorporating PATsend, and in the subsequent stage PATbuy, into its existing platform, MMV will be able to provide turnkey solutions for financial institutions and increase the speed at which their customers can quickly begin making convenient remote mobile purchases and payments down the road.

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November 30, 2009 | Competition, MarketWatch and Payments | Closed

MasterCard Canada Brings PayPass to BlackBerry Smartphones

In partnership with BMO Bank of Montreal and Research In Motion, MasterCard Canada has announced that it is bringing mobile payments to BlackBerry smartphones through its MasterCard PayPass ‘tap and go’ contactless payment technology. MasterCard is beginning a four-month trial in which participants will use PayPass Mobile Tag-equipped BlackBerry smartphones to make purchases at any of the 8,500 merchant locations in Canada that accept MasterCard PayPass. As announced, the trial is contactless sticker-based and doesn’t appear to include any application integration with the Blackberry handsets.

For the first time, the mobile payment will integrate with the device, with a confirmation email of each transaction sent to the BlackBerry smartphone, including purchase details such as the amount, retailer and date of transaction.

“With this trial, MasterCard continues to lead the industry in bringing secure contactless payment to mobile devices in Canada,” said Scott Lapstra, Vice President, Market Development, MasterCard Canada. “Consumers have embraced mobile applications and we expect this new trial to have a significant impact on the way goods and services are paid for at the point of sale in the future.”

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November 30, 2009 | Competition, MarketWatch and Payments | Closed

Qualcomm’s Mobile Payment Strategy: Fix the “Costanza Wallet”

While Qualcomm for many is synonymous with wireless, the company acquired Atlanta-based mobile banking startup Firethorn two years ago with an eye to also becoming a major player in the mobile payment space. More importantly, it acquired Firethorn founder Tripp Rackley — the man it hopes will make Qualcomm the Western Union of mobile.

An engineering graduate of Georgia Tech, Rackley first combined technology with banking in 1995 when as a 25-year-old he founded nFront, an Internet banking firm he took public in 1999. In 2002 Rackley founded Firethorn, for which Qualcomm paid $210 million five years later and made a standalone division. Firethorn has gained substantial traction in the space, inking partnerships with the three largest U.S. mobile carriers and compiling a list of more than a dozen banking partners.

Ask Rackley to describe Firethorn’s play in the mobile banking space, and he will talk about what he calls “the Costanza wallet,” that huge, leather-bound mass of stuff that Jerry Seinfeld’s pal notoriously lugged around in his back pocket. That scenario, according Rackley, now a Qualcomm senior vice president and division president of Firethorn, is what Qualcomm is trying to address as it vies for space in the ultra-competitive field. As he explained to me:

“Your phone has 30 different applications to mimic your wallet today, with different user names, passwords, UIs, and feature functionality. It’s really nothing more than a physical wallet that has a rubber band wrapped around it because it’s overloaded.”

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November 30, 2009 | Competition, MarketWatch and Payments | Closed

Viewpoint: Message Is Clear: Texting's Not Just for Teens

When banks ask their customers if they are interested in receiving bank communications by short messaging service, the results always seem to come as a surprise.

One retail bank I know had thought the proposition would be primarily of interest to teenagers and those in their 20s. Instead, an enthusiastic “yes” came back from all kinds of people: teenagers and young people certainly, but also working adults, stay-at-home moms and even retirees. It wasn’t of “some” interest — it was in demand with more than 15 million customers opting in to receive bank communications by SMS. Granted, this is only a certain percent of the bank’s customer base, but it’s one that is growing fast.

It’s growing fast because it has obvious benefits from the customer’s point of view. SMS messages are more discreet than phone calls, so a customer who would not appreciate her bank calling her at work to advise that her account is in danger of being overdrawn might welcome the arrival of an SMS with the same warning. For those who like to stay on top of their financial affairs, a daily text message detailing their current balance and recent transactions is a convenient way to keep in control, wherever they may be.

For banks too, the use of SMS as a communications channel has many benefits. Compared with a paper communication or voice call it is a very low-cost channel, requiring no printing, postage or human intervention. It’s also a way of keeping in regular touch with customers without being excessively intrusive. But perhaps one of the most significant areas of benefit is in its ability to assist in card fraud detection and prevention.

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November 25, 2009 | Adoption, MarketWatch and Payments | Closed

Yet more mobile banking – but it’s mobile payments we need.

Two industry leaders announced a mobile banking partnership today. Canada-based Scotiabank and mobile payments veteran M-Com will be launching an extensive service early next year. But the banks that are announcing mobile service now are really just catching up, and we need to be looking forward to mass adoption of mobile payment services.

Who is M-Com?

M-Com was founded in 2000 by people who worked in the payments industry, and it was created specifically to focus on mobile banking. It offers pretty much whatever you might in the mobile finance space. So while it does focus mainly on the banking side of things, it also looks at mobile payments from the consumer angle. M-Com will “mobile enable” a banks systems, so that customer can check accounts, move money, set up alerts and just generally take care of their banking from their phones. But it also allows consumers to use their mobile to pay for real world and digital goods via credit card, micro payments, contactless payments and mobile wallets.

Importantly, it also offers these via all three of the current major mobile channels – WAP, app and SMS.

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November 25, 2009 | Competition and MarketWatch | Closed
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