Mobile phones have increasingly become tools that consumers use for banking, payments, budgeting, and shopping. Given the rapid pace of developments in the area of mobile finance, the Federal Reserve Board began conducting annual surveys of consumers’ use of mobile financial services in 2011. This 78-page report, “Consumers and Mobile Financial Services” (March, 2015) examines trends in the adoption and use of mobile banking, payments, and shopping behavior and how the emergence of mobile financial services affects consumers’ interaction with financial institutions.
Unwary Customers Hit by M-PESA Money Transfer Scam Attempts
Not surprisingly, common scams have hit the mobile money transfer services, such as M-PESA. The usual scam involves the receipt of money, confirmed by a fake SMS purportedly from M-PESA. The scammer then says the transfer was a mistake, and asks for the money to be returned, or forwarded to the intended recipient.
Andrew Muchira, who was taking a rest at home received a text message — nothing out of the ordinary, he would have thought. But then it was a message supposedly from M-PESA telling him that he had received Sh8,000 from a certain Mr Waititu. Besides the fact that he did not know anyone by that name, what peeked his interest, was his ‘new’ balance. It was Sh8,000, yet he recalled transacting with his M-Pesa account the previous day and leaving a balance of Sh2,000.
It should read Sh10,000, he thought, then became suspicious — he was being conned, he concluded and decided to play along with the con-man.
via allAfrica.
Barclays Mobile Banking Service Launched
Barclaycard has launched a new mobile banking service as an extension of their current online service platform called mybarclaycard.
The service, available across hundreds of handset models, allows Barclaycard customers can access their accounts, check their balance and view payment or transaction history through their mobile browsers. The site integrates with the Barclaycard Freedom loyalty program to provide access to offers from nearby retailers, using geo-location technology.
The service’s interface provides an web experience designed specifically for mobile platforms, which customers can access by using the same secure login details as their mybarclaycard account.
“As payment experts, our role is to make it easier, more convenient and incredibly secure for people to manage their money while on the move,” said David Chan, CEO of Barclaycard Consumer Europe. “Many of our customers are time-poor or simply don’t want to spend extra time on a PC checking their account. This mobile service allows our customers the flexibility and convenience to manage their finances whenever and wherever they choose.”
“With consumers spending a quarter of their time online connected through mobiles, providing a well designed service is essential to fulfilling our changing customer expectations. The service is a further realisation of Barclaycard’s commitment to provide mainstream mobile banking services by 2012,” added Chan.
Source: Barclays
Widespread Use of NFC Mobile Payments Still Years Away, Says Survey
Sybase, Inc. subsidiary, Sybase 365, has released the results of its survey about leading inhibitors of widespread adoption of mobile payments.
According to the company, 40% of survey respondents cited the main inhibitor of widespread mobile payment adoption was a lack of coordination between key stakeholders, including mobile operators, merchants, payment processors, banks and developers.
“For mobile commerce to take off, industry stakeholders must harmonize their efforts in the same way that led to proliferation of SMS and MMS technologies,” said Marty Beard, President, Sybase 365. “In markets where multiple parties are working together, such as mpass Germany and paybox Austria, we have successful ecosystems where end users can pay for a multitude of goods and services via the mobile.”
While NFC will help further enable mobile payments, successful and established mobile technologies, including SMS and USSD are already leading the development of the ecosystem today.
“Mobile channels such as SMS, browser and apps are already being implemented by merchants globally. The challenge facing NFC is how to make the consumer payment experience significantly faster and easier than it already is.” added Beard.
Among 251 attendees polled at GSMA Mobile World Congress last week, 76 percent believe mobile proximity payments using NFC (Near Field Communication) technology is still at least two years away. Once again the lack of industry coordination (30 percent) was the cited as the main culprit for delayed NFC adoption. Other challenges included lack of NFC readers at point-of-sale (26 percent) and inadequate handsets (25 percent) were cited as inhibiting rapid deployment of mobile payments.
Source: Sybase 365
MoneyGram, Iris Wireless and Globe Telecom to Provide Mobile Phone Load Service in Philippines
MoneyGram, Iris Wireless and Globe Telecom Partner to Provide Mobile Top-Up to Philippines
U.S. consumers can purchase airtime credits for loved ones in the Philippines at any MoneyGram ExpressPayment agent location
MoneyGram International and Iris Wireless announced an agreement to provide global prepaid mobile top-up services that will make it easier for Filipinos living in the United States to stay connected with friends and family in the Philippines.
Per the agreement, MoneyGram will provide load service for U.S. consumers who want to re-load the cell phone minutes of individuals in the Philippines who use Iris Wireless’ partner Globe Telecom as their service provider. MoneyGram is a leader in the payment services industry, and Iris Wireless is a leading provider of messaging services that is connected to more than 850 network operators in 200 countries.
“It also helps Globe extend our reloading channels beyond the traditional sales network.”
International mobile top-up, a complementary service to MoneyGram’s global money transfer business, gives U.S. consumers another way to support those living or traveling abroad by purchasing airtime credits on their behalf. MoneyGram will offer this service through its network of ExpressPayment® retail agents – 35,000 in the United States – including Albertsons LLC, CVS/pharmacy and Walmart.
“MoneyGram’s alliance with Iris Wireless allows our customers to not only pay bills and send money to loved ones; but now they can also help out their friends and family in the Philippines by providing instant credit on Globe Telecom mobile phones,” said Greg Waltz, vice president and general manager of Global Payments at MoneyGram International.
“As demand continues to grow for international prepaid top-up services, Iris Wireless is excited about partnering with MoneyGram and Globe Telecom to provide international airtime minutes home to friends and family members in the Philippines,” said Peter Rinfret, CEO of Iris Wireless.
Unlike in the U.S., where most consumers have contracts for monthly service with wireless carriers, prepaid billing is the standard for most wireless consumers around the world who replenish minutes as they use them.
“As a mobile phone service provider Globe Telecom keeps people connected. This collaboration for international top-up provides us an opportunity to give millions of Filipinos in the U.S. a different way to stay connected to friends and family back home,” said Ferdinand De la Cruz, head of Consumer Sales at Globe Telecom. “It also helps Globe extend our reloading channels beyond the traditional sales network.”
U.S. customers can visit any MoneyGram agent location to purchase airtime credits for family and friends in the Philippines and load credits in various denominations in USD. The cell phone user will receive a text message that their phone has been topped up for a specific amount.
Source: Business Wire
Girl Scouts Now Accepting Mobile Payments for Cookies
This year, girl scouts may get a bump in sales as the young scouts offer a novel way for customers to pay for their girl scout cookes. Thanks to its new mobile payment solution, the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio (GSNEO) will be ringing up cookie sales by accepting credit cards on their mobile phones.
The scouts will be trying out Intuit’s GoPayment mobile payment app for processing credit cards. “For this generation of girls in particular, running a business and being able to take payments anywhere with mobile apps like GoPayment will become second nature. We’re eager to see how sales will increase now that they take credit cards with GoPayment.”
To celebrate the Girl Scouts upcoming 99th anniversary in March, Intuit Inc. has equipped the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio with its GoPayment mobile payment app, including a free Intuit credit card reader, and reduced pricing on transaction fees. GoPayment provides them with an easy and affordable way to process credit card payments on their mobile devices while protecting sensitive credit card information with industry-leading data encryption.
“We’re glad to put the latest mobile technology in the hands of America’s future business leaders to help them increase cookie sales,” said Chris Hylen, vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Payment Solutions division. “For this generation of girls in particular, running a business and being able to take payments anywhere with mobile apps like GoPayment will become second nature. We’re eager to see how sales will increase now that they take credit cards with GoPayment.”
“We’ve lost out on sales in the past because many potential cookie customers did not carry cash,” said Marianne Love, director of business services for GSNEO. “But that’s all about to change with GoPayment. For the first time ever, we’ll be able to say yes to credit cards and process payments quickly right on our phones. And now that people can pay by credit card, it will make it easier to buy a bundle of cookies to donate to U.S. Troops overseas through our Gift of Caring service project called Operation: Sweet Appreciation.”
Intuit has extended the offer to all Girl Scout councils across the country for a limited time.
GoPayment was introduced two years ago as one of the first mobile payment services on the market. It was designed to help people easily and quickly get paid via their mobile devices wherever they do business. To protect credit card data, GoPayment does not store data on the phone. Data is also encrypted via the GoPayment app and the moment the card is swiped using a supported credit card reader. GoPayment is available for iOS, Android and Blackberry devices.
Source: Business Wire
HDFC Bank to Introduce Mobile Banking in Andhra Pradesh
HDFC bank has introduced mobile banking services in Andhra Pradesh, in south-eastern India. Approximately 26% of HDFC Bank’s customers visit branches and the rest depend on ATMs, the internet and mobiles for their banking needs. HDFC has 450 to 500 ATMs in AP and up to 20% of customers use internet banking.
via Voice & Data.
FICO to Offer Telrock SMS and Mobile Payment App to Customers
FICO, a provider of analytics and decision management technology, and London-based Telrock Communications Ltd., developer of mobile applications for banking, payments and debt management, today announced an agreement under which FICO will resell Telrock’s interactive text and smartphone applications around the world.
Telrock applications give FICO clients a new, fully secure mobile channel for communicating with customers, improving customer service and collecting payments.
“By offering Telrock mobile apps, we believe we can deliver help our clients in banking and other industries strengthen both their credit portfolios and their customer relationships.”
With Telrock’s unique mobile payment applications such as textDebit, customers can make payments by replying to SMS alerts or through smartphone apps. Telrock clients have reported that 40% of customers make payments within 30 minutes of receiving a mobile alert, and 74% make payments within 48 hours.
According to Telrock, payment arrangements managed by interactive text messaging have a completion rate of 63%, which is 20% above the average for non-SMS payment plans. Users of Telrock mobile applications include leading banks and utility companies, such as RBS, NatWest, British Gas, and Scottish and Southern Energy.
“Smartphone penetration is predicted to be 50% in 2012 and 80% by 2015, opening up a vast new communication channel for business,” said Telrock CEO Russell Robinson. “Younger generations in particular have shown a marked preference for receiving communications via SMS and apps over voice. Our agreement with FICO will enable credit grantors worldwide to leverage this channel to speed payments, cut collection costs and improve customer satisfaction.”
Telrock’s mobile-based services include sophisticated customer account management and protection functionality, as well as customer payment handling and alerting. Clients using these services can significantly reduce operating costs, achieve improved customer satisfaction and increase payment and contact rates, using a channel that costs less than traditional phone-based communications.
“Mobile payments have the potential to revolutionize banking by giving customers a quick, simple and secure channel for making sensitive payment arrangements,” said Mike Gordon, FICO’s general manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “By offering Telrock mobile apps, we believe we can deliver help our clients in banking and other industries strengthen both their credit portfolios and their customer relationships.”
Source: Business Wire
China Unicom To Establish Mobile Payment Subsidiary
China Unicom is recruiting for 20 positions of its new subsidiary to be established, reports c114.net.
The new subsidiary is temporarily called China Unicom Payment. China Unicom started the commercial application of its mobile payment service in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing.
via CapitalVue News.
Square Lowers Merchant Transaction Fee
As competition to sign up merchants heats up, mobile payment company Square has announced it will drop the $0.15 transaction fee that it had been charging customers. There will still be a charge ofz 2.75% of the transaction cost, but Square’s biggest competitor, Intuit GoPayment, currently charges 2.7% plus $0.15 per transaction, or 3.7% plus $0.15 if the credit card is entered manually.
via Business Insider.
Central Bank of Congo to Lanuch Mobile Banking Service
The Central Bank of Congo (BCC) has held a workshop on mobile banking services with the aim of making greater use of the technology.
According to the institution, mobile phones will soon play a key role in accessing banking services in Democratic Republic of Congo, as can be seen in other African countries such as Nigeria or Kenya.