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.
Tyfone, Inc.
Tyfone provides a turnkey infrastructure software on the phone, middleware platform, and a memory card based token for the secure element/contactless payments/NFC.
The company’s product combines e a smart card chip secure element, an NFC chip, and a miniature antenna provisioned to a memory card that works in any standard memory card slot. This solution enables device independence in an issuer-centric model allowing the issuer to control both the channel and customer. Tyfone connects money and mobility in a secure, scalable and flexible mobile financial services platform that is tailored to meet the evolving needs of organizations and their customers.
Founded in 2004, Tyfone’s corporate headquarters are in Portland, Oregon, and its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Bangalore, India. The company has manufacturing relationships in Taiwan and component partners in Israel, Germany, and Singapore.
The company is venture backed by Ojas Venture Partners, an early stage technology focused Venture Capital firm based in India.
The management team is comprised of leaders from the financial services and technology industries. Tyfone’s vision is to enable Device and Carrier Independence for mobile financial services to the world’s leading organizations.
More information: Tyfone, Inc.
Obopay
Obopay specializes in mobile payment systems. The service allows the transfer of money between mobile phones. Once a customer creates an Obopay account, money can be added from a credit card, debit card, or a bank transfer. From a technical point of view, Obopay service currently works in three ways: via SMS, via Obopay mobile application (requires a smartphone), or via Internet browser (WAP).
The company is headquartered in Redwood City, California.
Milestones
- 2005: Company founded by Carol Realini
- March 2008: Obopay launched its services in India through a wholly owned subsidiary
- March 2009: Nokia announced that it would invest in Obopay, and later in August 2009 unveiled its service Nokia Money.
- 2010: Obopay was selected as Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum
More information: Obopay
Commidea
Commidea is part of the Point group and a market leader in the development of credit card processing technology, providing a range of high performance systems and tailor-made solutions for a wide variety of industries and market sectors.
Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Point is a leading provider of electronic retail payment solutions in Northern Europe with over 300,000 customers operating more than 400,000 points of sale. Point was established in 1987 and has local offices across the Nordic and Baltic regions. Point supplies tools for secure electronic transaction processing, including hardware solutions as well as services such as software development, helpdesk, maintenance and transaction routing.
As part of the Point group, Commidea leverages the strength and experience of the wider multi-national group and continue to make investments in research and development to build secure, feature rich and cost effective payment solutions in the market.
The company operates from Point’s UK office in Ashford, Kent.
More information: Commidea, Point International
Gemalto
Gemalto’s activities range from the development of software applications through the design and production of secure personal devices such as smart cards, SIMs, e-passports and tokens, to the deployment of managed services for their customers.
More than 1 billion people worldwide use Gemalto products and services for telecommunications, financial services, e-government, identity and access management, multimedia content, digital rights management, IT security, mass transit and many other applications.
As the use of Gemalto’s software and secure devices increases with the number of people interacting in the digital and wireless world, the company is poised to thrive over the coming years.
Key Figures
- €1.654 billion revenue 2009
- 10,000 employees, 90 nationalities, based in 40 countries
- 77 sales and marketing offices; 18 production sites, 30 personalization centers, 11 R&D centers
- Over 1.4 billion Secure devices produced and personalized in 2009
Security
Gemalto’s team of security and cryptography staff designs and implements anti-fraud solutions certified to the highest standards. The company hold an extensive portfolio of patents and security certifications.
Design and Production of Secure Personal Devices
Gemalto’s expertise spans the entire process for creating secure personal devices. The company buys microprocessors, develops operating systems and software, and produces and personalizes objects – of which they have already delivered 10 billion worldwide. Gemalto continues to provide new forms and architectures, and delivers complete solutions for secure, convenient services.
Personalization and Issuance
Gemalto is a partner for the individual personalization of millions of secure personal devices daily, certified to the highest security level practices. Gemalto’s issuance and post-issuance services oversee each step in delivering them all the way to the end-user, as well as replacing and upgrading them once in the field.
More information: Gemalto
Mitek Systems
For more than 20 years, Mitek Systems (OTC: MITK.OB) has provided financial institutions with advanced imaging and analytics software to authenticate and extract data from imaged checks and other financial documents.
Mitek’s patented technology is currently used by all leading financial organizations in the United States to process more than 10 billion items per year. Today, Mitek is applying its patented technology and extensive expertise in image correction, optical character recognition and intelligent data extraction to mobile devices. Using Mitek Mobile Apps, smart phone users can now deposit checks, pay bills, save receipts and fax documents while on the road or sitting at a desk — eliminating trips to the bank, Post Office and file cabinet.
For more information: Mitek Systems
Nokia Siemens Networks
Nokia Siemens Networks is a leading global enabler of telecommunications services. With its focus on innovation and sustainability, the company provides a complete portfolio of mobile, fixed and converged network technology, as well as professional services, consultancy and systems integration, deployment, maintenance and managed services. It is one of the largest telecommunications hardware, software and professional services companies in the world. Operating in 150 countries, its headquarters are in Espoo, Finland.