"Japanese consumers typically make payments in shops using cash and coupons or rewards; it is also sometimes possible to pay by charging the customer’s mobile phone bill. The Celent report, Retail Payments in Japan – a Land of Contrasts and Opportunity, suggests that the gradual shift of e-commerce in the country towards mobile channels is shifting banks to cooperate with popular reward schemes, which can increasingly be used online and via mobile." Continue Reading

"Consumer preferences are changing rapidly. Some misunderstandings were once true, but are simply outdated, while others are just plain myths. Perhaps the most egregious misconception is that young people have no use for the branch. While young adults transact digitally, they prefer to engage with their banks face-to-face.

This presents a challenge to banks, who must invest in both their branch and digital channels to remain competitive. Celent conducted an online survey among 1,059 U.S. internet users in June 2013, to get a current snapshot of channel usage and preferences. Key findings of our report include:" Continue Reading

"While the core bank account has long been a cornerstone of banks’ relationships with their customers, Celent asserts in a new report that the core bank account must evolve to maintain its relevance in the digital world.

The report poses a crucial question: In the not too distant future, will the “new bank account” need to have the following capabilities?" Continue Reading

"It's no secret that banks that fail to embrace online and mobile distribution platforms aren't long for this world. 'There is a broad consensus within the banking industry that digital channels are a crucial way forward,' observed a recent report on mobile banking by financial services consulting company Celent.

What's less obvious, however, is the answer to the question of who is winning the mobile race." Continue Reading

Mobile Wallets: Big Opportunity, Big Hurdles
"What's the role of banks in the new mobile payments model? Sitting in front of a room full of bankers at the Mobile Banking and Commerce Summit in San Francisco, some of the biggest players in the burgeoning mobile wallet space wasted no time Tuesday tackling that question. The query itself suggested that banks still don't know enough about the power of mobile wallets and the potential benefits of partnering with their developers."

Tablets, Mobile Payments, Disruptors Among Hot Topics at Celent Banking Innovation & Insight Day
"Tablet banking, mobile payments and financial services disruptors were among the big topics discussed at analyst and research firm Celent's fifth annual Banking Insight & Innovation Day. The event, held in Charlotte, N.C., drew more than 100 bankers and financial services technology companies to go over the hot topics of the day. The overarching message? Change is coming to banking, and it's coming soon."

Mobile Banking Leads Survey as Next Shared Banking Service
"A majority of participating credit unions with the Credit Union Centers, a shared branching CUSO that serves primarily credit unions in Indiana and Illinois, listed having a mobile version of shared branching as a shared branch service they would most like to see developed."

Top Mobile Banking Security Tips
"Remember when mobile banking meant visiting your local branch? Today it means being able to make balance inquiries, deposits and account transfers with just a few taps on your smartphone. And that’s just the beginning. 'The scope of mobile banking has clearly expanded over the last 18 months,' said Sonia Lalli, a mobile banking analyst at Juniper Research, 'particularly because of the expanded and more intelligent capabilities offered by the smartphone, as well as a greater range of affordable non-iPhone devices.'”

Will Banking Apps Kill Debit Cards?
"Forget your debit card? Soon, withdrawals by smartphone may become routine, if they can overcome security issues that continue to plague mobile banking apps. The U.K. is making strides in mobile banking, with the Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest developing mobile banking apps so customers can withdraw money from ATMs using their smartphones instead of debit cards."

Westfield Bank Leads the Way in Mobile Banking
"Westfield Bank (the “Bank”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Westfield Financial, Inc. (NasdaqGS:WFD), is enhancing its state-of-the-art services to customers with the release of new apps for the Apple iPhone®, iPad®, iPod touch® as well as smartphones using the Android operating system. The Bank is one of the first community banks in the western Massachusetts area to offer these high-end technology services. The Bank’s leadership is committed to keeping traditional banking services while also enabling on-the-go customers convenient access to their finances using smartphone mobile devices."

FIS and mFoundry Strengthen Relationship
"mFoundry, the fastest-growing provider of mobile banking and payments solutions, today announced that it has strengthened its strategic relationship with FIS™, the world’s largest provider of banking and payments technology.

With a recent investment, FIS increased its ownership holdings in mFoundry. The two companies have been working together on mobile banking solutions for the past several years, serving more than 200 financial institution clients. The enhanced relationship will continue to combine FIS’ strong position in financial services technology with mFoundry’s award-winning mobile banking products."

Mobile banking app usage grows 74 percent in a year: comScore
"The use of mobile banking apps is growing quickly as consumers look for ways to easily access their financial information while on the go, according to a new report from comScore. While the 2011 State of Online and Mobile Banking report shows that app usage among mobile bankers is up 74 percent from nearly a year ago, it also indicates there is still significant room for usage to grow. The report also shows that mobile bankers are highly engaged customers."

Smartphones let customers bank on the go
"Smartphones are here to stay, and banking institutions are working to keep up with new technology to cater to their customers. Brian Pearce, Wells Fargo senior vice president and head of the bank's retail mobile channel, describes the growth in mobile banking over the past five years as explosive. 'Customers are adopting this mobile lifestyle,' Pearce said. Wells Fargo finished 2011 with 7.3 million customers using mobile banking services."

Review: What Corporate Mobile Banking Will Really Mean For Your Bank
"I’m just back from the US where I was presenting at our Corporate Mobile Banking event. Unsurprisingly, given the topic, we had a very high level of interest, resulting in a large number of registrations. We also had a first for me - a gate crasher who had to be ejected! Many thanks to all those who attended and who made the event the success it was. I’d particularly like to thank my colleagues Dana and Erica who made it run so smoothly."

mfoundry Zips Past the 500 Client Mark
"mFoundry (News - Alert), a service provider whose name is in the forefront of mobile banking services, recently announced that around 500 banks as well as credit unions located in North America have chosen them as their mobile banking solution service providers."

WAUSAU Financial Systems Signs Three Financial Institutions to Mobile Remote Deposit Capture Offering
"WAUSAU Financial Systems, a provider of payment and receivables processing solutions, announced that three financial institutions, Citizens & Northern Bank, NewDominion Bank and Farmers State Bank of Calhan, selected its mobile remote deposit capture (RDC) solution, from its Deposit 24/7 Suite(TM). WAUSAU's robust RDC suite includes branch, merchant, consumer and mobile capture points, allowing for convenient and secure check depositing from any location."

RushCard makes mobile financial services easier for US unbanked with new apps
"Cincinnati-based UniRush LLC is helping to blur the already fuzzy lines between prepaid cards, mobile banking and mobile payments. The company announced today it has launched mobile applications for Android and iPhone smartphones that let users of its RushCard prepaid Visa debit card manage their accounts from their mobile devices.

According to the company's announcement, RushCard users can now check balances and review transaction and transfer history on their smartphones. Additionally, RushCard members can use the applications to send money to other RushCard members, with iPhone users even able to use bump technologies to transfer funds."

Celent’s Mobile Peer Networking Event
"Celent hosted a banking peer networking event in San Francisco to great success. Fifteen people representing six financial institutions attended, including two with assets of over 100ドル billion. The topic of the event was mobile banking and we started the day with the much anticipated PowerPoint presentation. Rather than a one-way communication from presenter to audience, this was a dynamic discussion bankers and Celent analysts engaging each other on a variety of mobile topics, from coupons to payments to the interaction of the two. Celent presented on three banks that are doing very interesting things with mobile:"

Visa Trying To Pick A Mobile Winner?
"Last week, Visa announced an alliance with Monitise plc, a major player in the mobile banking & payments space. This announcement was significant given that the mobile banking & payments space is very hot these days, and continues to be billed as “the next big thing” in payments."

GSMA launches Mobile Money Exchange to support financial services companies
"The body representing the worldwide mobile communications industry, GSMA, presented its Mobile Money Exchange initiative at the Annual Mobile Money Summit in Barcelona, Spain. Through this initiative, the GSMA intends to support financial services companies, entering the mobile environment, by providing a common voice and formal business forum for business collaboration. Mobile Money Exchange builds on the Mobile Money Program that the GSMA implemented in 2006 and which was very successfull in terms of building a global community."

The Smartphone Chess Board
"With so much buzz on the iPhone and its alleged “killer” competitors, many developments occur behind the scenes that are often overlooked. Industry stalwart Blackberry still retains a relatively large portion of the market but must continue to enhance their phone’s capabilities to keep the iPhone in their sight."

Corporate Branding Races to iPhone Apps: Winners and Losers
"iPhone apps are probably the most popular thing to be used since the color TV. We've seen companies of all sizes put together some really cool concepts for iPhone apps. While most of these applications exist only as marketing techniques, some of them are quite useful. The question is, however, are they meeting the expectations of iPhone users?"

Banks feel urgent need in mobile banking
"Bankers at a panel on mobile banking at Celent's Innovation and Insight Day came to consensus recognizing mobile banking as necessary condition for banks. The discussion was moderated by senior analyst Jacob Jegher. There were three bankers and one alternative financial services provider as participants. All agreed that mobile is where the business is going."

New Research Shows Optimism About Mobile Banking And Payments
"Spurred by the increasing popularity of smart phones and a strong push by financial institutions, the number of Americans actively using mobile-banking services could grow to 53.1 million by 2013, an increase of 431% from an estimated 10 million today."

Mobile Payment Skins LLC Has Contactless Payment All Wrapped Up
"Their specific skin is then printed and fabricated on-demand and sent to them. When the card holder receives the vinyl skin, it is pealed from its backing and "wrapped" onto their mobile phone. The skin is embedded with a contactless payment chip that gives the stylish skin added function at the point of sale. A simple wave of the mobile phone at a contactless POS reader makes a transaction with the merchant. It is easy as that."

Fidelity National Information Services Earns Prestigious Industry Recognition
"In its annual ranking of leading technology companies, BTN ranked FIS(TM) the number-one technology company to watch in 2009. Since 2001, BTN has annually ranked what it believes to be the top ten technology companies of greatest interest to bankers. Companies in the annual ranking have included innovators in core processing, mobile banking, data security, risk, imaging, Web banking, data analytics, process outsourcing, loyalty and more."

Recently, there have been a couple of interesting tid-bits from the research community.

Just this morning, there was an article in the American Banker titled "Web Seen Most Effective to Keep Young Customers" by Daniel Wolfe. In the article Mr. Wolfe shares that a recent report from Celent found that, "...60% of college students have decided to keep their current banking relationship after graduating...and that the Internet played a large role in their decision."

Additionally, the article references a discussion with Ilieva Ageenko (e-commerce director at Wachovia) where she states, "the young generation's appetite for immediate access was greater than Wachovia was able to satisfy, even by extending its services to mobile phones. For example Wachovia can give daily balance updates by text message, but its younger customers wanted intraday updates as well."

This is yet more proof that simple alerts will not be enough to satisfy the "on demand" mentality of our clients. Financial institutions must utilize a mobile offering so that the Gen Y, Gen X, and even the progressive Boomers can access their information any time - any where.



The second interesting development is from Javelin Strategy & Research. Just yesterday, I received a promotional email about the "Mobile Reports Triple Pack." The research contains three separate reports and covers the primary topics on everyone's mind: Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments, and Mobile Banking Security. While I haven't yet read them I hope to do so very soon, and while 3000ドル is not cheap it does save 600ドル off the individual price.