Mobile Payment Magazine

2010 Mobile Banking Scorecard Research Report

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Javelin Strategy and Research has released its 2010 Mobile Banking Scorecard: How 19 Top Financial Institutions Compare on Mobile Channel Retail Delivery. The survey presents an overview of mobile banking services offered by 19 of the 30 largest U.S. financial institutions (FIs) based on deposits. The survey covers five key areas of mobile banking: marketing and security messaging, mobile access, general features, short message service SMS features and security.

As part of the data collection process, mystery shoppers also were employed. They searched each FI’s website and contacted each FI’s customer service representatives CSRs a minimum of four times. Of the 30 FIs researched and contacted in June and July 2010, 19 offer mobile banking services to their customers.

When scoring the FIs, Javelin reviewed a total of 47 criteria. Based on a quantitative analysis of the criteria, FIs were awarded either a gold, silver or bronze status. This report further includes a profile of Bank of America.

More information or to download a report summary: Javelin Strategy – 2010 Mobile Banking Scorecard.

U.S. Mobile Payment Market to Top $200 Billion by 2015, Says Research Report

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A recent report from Aite Group forecasts that U.S. mobile bill payments will reach more than $200  billion in 2015.

Aite Group interviewed more than 60 companies in the Fall of 2010 and produced a 65 page report that defines and segments the mobile payment industry, and includes an analysis of the competitive and market trends.

Each one of the multiple categories of mobile payments defined in the report will experience double-digit growth, with mobile payments accounting for  US$214 billion in gross dollar volume by 2015, up from US$16 billion in 2010–a 68% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2010 and 2015.

The report references the following companies: Allstate, Amazon, American Express, Apple, AT&T, Bango, Bank of America, Barclays, Bill2Mobile, BlackBerry, Bling Nation, BOKU, Brink’s, C-Sam, Cashedge, Cellfire, Chase, Chase Paymentech, Cimbal, ClairMail, coupons.com, Coupons Sherpa, Visa’s Cybersource, Device Fidelity, Diebold, Discover, Eagle Eye Solutions, eBay, Euronet, Facebook, First Data, FIS, Fiserv, Foursquare, Gemalto, Global Payments, Google, Gowalla, Green Dot, Groupon, Harland Financial Services, Heartland Payment Systems, Hipcricket, iLoop Mobile, Inside Contactless, Intuit, Jack Henry/iPay Technologies, Kubra, MasterCard, mFoundry, Mobile Coupons, Mocapay, MoneyGram, Monitise Group, mopay, MyWebGrocer, NCR, NetSpend, Nokia, Oberthur Technologies, Obopay, OfferIQ, Online Resources, PayPal, Plastyc, Pyxis Mobile, Research-in-Motion (RIM), Roam Data (Ingenico), Roamware, Rocketbuxx, SK C&C USA, Square, Starbucks, Sybase, T-Mobile, Tetherball, 3i Infotech, Tier Technologies, TransferTo, TSYS, Twitter, U.S. Bank, VeriFone, Verizon, Vesta, Visa, ViVOtech, Waspit, Way Systems, Western Union, Wincor Nixdorf, WirelessLoyalty, Xipwire, Yelp, and Zong.

More information: Aite Group Mobile Payment Report.

Source: Aite Group

Many Mobile Banking App’s Not Secure, Says viaForensics

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On the heels of the news of PayPal’s vulnerable iPhone application, The Wall Street Journal broke news of additional vulnerabilities in other major financial institutions’ smart phone applications. These security flaws were uncovered by computer and mobile forensics firm, viaForensics, who tested smart phone applications from Bank Of America, Chase, TD Ameritrade, USAA, Wells Fargo and Vanguard, in addition to PayPal.

viaForensics has been communicating and coordinating with the financial institutions to address the flaws. Most of the institutions were able to quickly resolve the issues and release new versions of their applications.

According to American Banker 25% of the mobile banking programs analyzed received a poor rating: ” In most cases, these failures occurred because testers were able to recover a user password or other sensitive user data from a user’s mobile device. In some cases, the apps cached a security PIN or a user name and password. In other instances testers were able to recover payment history, partial credit card numbers and other transaction-related data. About a third (31%) of mobile banking apps received a “Warn” grade because a user name or app data was present, but not considered a significant risk to the user. The remaining 44% of mobile banking apps passed the test.”

viaForensics has retested the applications and released the results through appWatchdog, a free service which tests publicly available mobile applications for insecure transmissions or storage of sensitive user data. The service measures such factors as how securely the app handles user names and passwords. If not handled properly, security lapses can place the user at risk for data and financial theft. A deeper audit is offered through appSecure, which provides sophisticated security testing and recommendations for securing the app.

Sources: viaForensics, American Banker

Global Mobile Banking Customer Base to Reach 1.1 Billion by 2015

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Mobile banking is emerging as a key electronic channel for the global banking and financial services industry. The ubiquitous nature of mobile devices and services, and the ability of mobile banking services to reduce overall operational costs, streamline operations, and expand customer base are expected to boost prospects in the industry. Increasing adoption of mobile phones among general consumers, particularly among the younger generation in the 18-34 years age group, and rapid rise in demand for mobile payments are expected fuel demand for mobile banking services.

The industry is also expected to benefit from favorable government and regulatory specifications, which are aimed at providing banking services to unbanked customers to promote economic development.The United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific dominate the global mobile banking market, as stated by the new market research report on mobile banking. The market for mobile banking is set to achieve tremendous growth, with Asia-Pacific emerging as the predominant market in terms of customer base.

North America and Europe are characterized by high usage of mobile devices for Internet access, as a result of which mobile banking is an extension of online banking services. In Europe, mobile banking services are still in early stages, and regarded primarily as ‘convenience providers’ and ‘value additions’ rather than revenue generators. On the other hand, the Middle East and African markets are expected to benefit from the mobile banking technology’s ability to provide financial services to remote areas.Rapid growth of mobile banking services is driving banks to devise strategies to sustain presence in an intensely competitive market. Success of a bank’s mobile banking service is dependent on its ability to retain customer base and achieve cost reductions.

Key players profiled in the report include Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc., , ClairMail Inc, Firethorn Holdings LLC, Fronde Anywhere Ltd, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Limited, Macalla Software Ltd, mFoundry, Monitise plc, MShift Inc., and Sybase Inc., among others.The report titled “Mobile Banking: A Global Strategic Business Report” announced by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., provides a comprehensive review of market trends, competitive scenario, product introductions/innovations, and recent industry activity. The study analyzes market data and analytics in terms of number of customers for The United States, Canada, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of World.For more details about this comprehensive market research report, please visit – Mobile Banking Market Report

Source: PR Web