Mobile Banking: What’s Up?
The
varying levels of mobile phone technology and telecommunication
infrastructure across the Asia/Pacific region make it extremely
difficult to deploy one effective mobile financial solution for all
countries, says Financial Insights, an IDC company, while releasing its
report: Mobile Banking and Beyond. Also, Frost & Sullivan reports on
Latin American mobile banking market.
Financial Insights believes that the move towards the convergence of
internet and mobile banking, which are two previously separate channels,
will impact not only how channel strategies are crafted in institutions
but also overall customer engagement approaches.
According to
another research firm Frost & Sullivan,
in Latin American mobile banking market, currently the main channel of
connection is SMS and is likely to remain so since mobile banking
through messaging will be less expensive for the user and will not
require a sophisticated handset.
However, accessing mobile banking with a special WAP application will
represent a considerable increase in mobile data use. So carriers will
be most interested in working together with financial institutions to
promote this value added service, believes Frost & Sullivan.
In
another study, tech research firm In-Stat says while
more than two trillion mobile messages
are being sent per day globally as of the end of 2008, messaging is a
big revenue source for mobile operators.
According to Financial Insights, some of the emerging trends being
witnessed in mobile banking in Asia/Pacific are:
·
In the
past, mobile banking and payments were driven by telecommunication
players. Now, banks are taking the lead in deploying such services. This
is not to say that telecommunication companies have been cut out of the
mobile banking proposition. Rather, banks are now partnering with
telecommunication companies and other IT vendors to deploy such
solutions on a more equal footing.
·
Currently, mobile banking deployment differs significantly between
developed and developing countries in the Asia/Pacific region. Financial
institutions in the region's mature markets are seeking to converge
Internet and mobile banking channels, whereas those in developing
markets are looking to grow customer bases by focusing on the unbanked.
·
Newer
and more innovative mobile banking solutions are being implemented. This
has resulted in mobile banking services moving beyond being just an
extension of current financial services delivered via a mobile device.
By fully integrating mobile solutions with the banks' core systems,
these solutions now provide more value-added services not only to the
customers but also to the bank itself.
The
Financial Insights report discusses the mobile banking solutions
deployed in Asia/Pacific by OCBC Bank in Singapore, ANZ Bank in
Australia, and Kasikornbank in Thailand. It also presents Financial
Insights' views on how this area will evolve in the region in the near
future.
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