Jeff Salway: Banking bandwagon not such a safe ride
"I WAS recently accused by a friend – a self-confessed geek – of being scared of new technology; I prefer to believe I’m just too cynical to jump on the latest high-tech bandwagon. That includes mobile banking, which is one bandwagon the banks would very much like us all to leap on to, and in this case my cynicism may be more than justified. Mobile banking refers to the use of mobile phones and other handheld devices, such as tablets, to make payments, transfer money, check statements and so on. The UK is lagging behind in this area, but our banks are eager to catch up and are ploughing millions into mobile banking development."

Banker beware: SIM swapping con targets mobile accounts
"It's amazing in its own way — despite constant warnings from their financial institutions to never, ever provide sensitive information by phone or email, customers continue to do just that. That dynamic, whether caused by gullibility or laziness, has only helped scammers, who've been perfecting their craft since time immemorial. One of the latest cons is SIM swapping, which is the second phase of a phishing scam. Though not as profitable as large-scale hacking and skimming, it appeals to criminal gangs looking for a low-cost, low-risk, high-reward, EMV-circumventing racket."

USERNAME AND PASSWORD AUTHENTICATION BORDERS ON NEGLIGENCE IN MOBILE BANKING
"Earlier this week the Financial Conduct Authority announced that it will be publishing a full report in to mobile banking early next year, by revealing its initial findings and the potential risks to consumers concerning fraud, cybercrime and user error. In an article published by the BBC, the Director of Supervision at the FCA, Clive Adamson, states that: 'With the market growing, now is the right time for us to take stock and, as part of the FCA’s forward looking approach, to ensure that consumers are appropriately protected.'”

New 'Hesperbot' bank Trojan targets mobile authentication systems
"Security firm ESET is warning of an ambitious new banking Trojan designed to beat the mobile multi-factor authentication systems rolled out to defeat an older generation of malware. Named Spy.Hesperbot after its discovery in Mid-August, the Trojan comes with the usual tricks such as keylogging, video capture and html injection but adds cleverness in the form of a remote control VNC server and a mobile app for Symbian, Blackberry or Android smartphones."

UK mobile payments held back by security and complexity
"With only one in five UK consumers using their mobile to make payments, new research suggests that the technology is being held back by consumer fears over security, lengthy sign-up processes and problems making payments outside of individual schemes. Mobile payments specialist firm Zapp carried out a survey of 2,000 UK consumers, and found that 17% of them had made a mobile payment. Of these, some 60% were limited to simple bank transfers between accounts, rather than paying for goods and services. Of those making payments, one in five said there are not enough people and places to make payments and 18% said it was difficult to pay people who don’t use the same mobile payment system."

Leading lawyer on FCA interest in mobile banking
"The mobile banking market is expanding rapidly and Clive Anderson, Director of Supervision at the FCA, stated that it is right that the FCA now takes stock of recent developments and looks at how consumers can be ‘appropriately protected' in the future. Leon Deakin, senior associate at leading national law firm, Thomas Eggar LLP, comments: "Whilst these developments and the FCA's interest is welcome it does again demonstrate that the law and regulation so often lags behind technological developments. Indeed, this sort of technology and the ideas behind it are certainly not new so why has it taken so long to get to this point?"

RBC Mobile Banking app for BlackBerry 10 coming “by the end of September"
"RBC seems to be taking care of the thousands of BlackBerry 10 users in Canada. According to a reply on Twitter the financial institution will be making their mobile banking app available to BB10 users ‘by the end of September.”

BB issues instructions to stop breach of guidelines
"The Bangladesh Bank (BB) Sunday issued fresh instructions on mobile financial services, imposing some restrictions on money transactions to check irregularities and use of the service by non-account holders. The central bank asked all banks to strictly follow its instructions regarding use of know-your-customer (KYC) form in opening mobile accounts. No transaction can be made before the bank concerned scrutinises and approves application of the client/form."

Africa will Rule the World in Mobile Money, Expert Predicts
"African countries like Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania have been predicted to rule the world in mobile money transactions, which include mobile banking and mobile wallet, in the next few years, going by the continent’s population and zeal for technology advancement. Head, Marketing and Strategy at Ericsson, Mr. Shiletsi Makhofane, who made the prediction in Sweden, while unveiling the company’s Digital Agenda for Africa, advised banks and tele-communications operators in Africa to see the opportunities and take advantage of them to boost African technology development."

Latin America Experiments with Mobile Banking
"Latin America has surpassed 100% mobile phone penetration, according to the latest data from World Bank. In reality, about 30% of the population still doesn’t have a phone. (Urbanites with more than one phone inflate the number.) Still, adoption is strong and growing. It follows that banks in Latin America have been embracing mobility: releasing feature-rich mobile apps primarily, and also updating online banking offerings and targeting the unbanked and underbanked."

Kenya: Are Bitcoins the Future of Mobile Money?
"Want to go to the market, pay for a taxi or send money back home? In Kenya, all you need is your mobile phone. Ever since Safaricom, Kenya's largest mobile-network operator, launched the mobile-payment system M-Pesa in 2007, some two-thirds of Kenya's adult population have subscribed, and an astonishing 31% of the country's GDP is now spent through mobile phones."

Western Union Expands Mobile Money Transfer Service to Nepal
"The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in global payment services, today announced the launch of a new mobile money transfer service that enables consumers to send money into a mobile wallet in Nepal. The new mobile money transfer service to Nepal integrates directly with eSewa, one of the leading digital wallet platforms in Nepal with more than 200,000 registered users. The functionality was developed through the collaborative efforts of Western Union, its Agent Nabil Bank Limited, and FonePay Pvt. Ltd., the owner of eSewa."

Jaiz Bank Partners Teasy Mobile Money To Provide Mobile Banking
"Jaiz Bank, a Sharia-complaint Nigerian financial institution, has partnered Teasy Mobile Money to allow customers access to financial services using their mobile devices. According to Hassan Usman, the bank’s acting MD, the partnership with the mobile service company will extend its reach to citizens, who lack conventional banking services due to its high cost, thus increasing financial inclusions in West Africa’s largest economy."

Mobile credit card 'Swosti' launched
"A mobile credit card named 'Swosti' was launched Wednesday in the country for the first time to facilitate loans for the marginal people who are mainly involved with the non-government organisations (NGOs). Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman inaugurated the new service as the chief guest at a city hotel."

Monitise loss widens as operating costs double
"Mobile banking technology company Monitise Plc reported a wider loss as operating costs doubled due to investments in technology and services and the company's recent acquisition. Shares in the company fell as much as 9 percent to 48.75 pence on the London Stock Exchange, making it one of the top percentage losers in early trade. The stock touched a life high on Wednesday after the company announced two new contracts and Goldman Sachs raised its price target on the stock."

99wuxian joins China’s lucrative mobile market
"Transcription of Finance News Network Interview with 99wuxian Limited (ASX:NNW) Chairman, Ross Benson"

Banking on the value of USSD
"The most obvious option available to banks trying to roll out mobile financial services in emerging markets is to set up services directly with a mobile operator. Indeed, many banks in emerging markets have a mobile banking platform from one of the vendors present in the market. However, they still face the challenge of capturing the hearts and minds of consumers, as many potential customers do not see how mobile banking will affect their lives."

Australians Increasingly Using Tablets And Smartphones For Banking
"Over the next half decade, Australians will increasingly prefer to do online banking using their tablets and smartphones as opposed to the traditional PC says Jason Yetton wh runs retail and business banking for Westpac. Recently the lender revealed it had processed 3ドル billion of transactions made by its 270,000 iPad app users since the lender rolled out the app less than a year ago. Mr. Yetton added that the desktop computer still dominates followed by the smartphone, the number of tablet transactions is catching up."

Bank Audi awards multi-year service contract to Capital Banking Solutions
"Bank Audi sal - Audi Saradar Group (Bank Audi) has inked a 5-year agreement with Capital Banking Solutions, to deliver software programs to support the bank's complete range of products and services. The lender has been provided with an enterprise license agreement to use Capital Banking Solutions product portfolio for core banking, business intelligence, compliance, customer relationship management, portfolio management, and multi-channel support including internet and mobile banking. Based on the terms of the agreement, the financial technology company will also act as the outsourced technology partner for the lender."

Mobile banking risks revealed by FCA
"Fraud and mistakes on fiddly keypads could create problems for people who use banking services on their mobile phones, a regulator has said. Consumers transferring money should be careful to enter correct details on the smaller keypads, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said. They might also be using mobile banking late at night, which could affect their concentration when moving funds. The FCA is studying the potential risks to customers of mobile banking."

Cyber criminals crack two-factor bank authentications
"Users who swear by online banking are in for a shock as the McAfee Threats Report: Second Quarter 2013 has divulged details about a banking malware that helps cyber criminals steal SMSes to get access to people’s accounts. The research also brings to light some entertainment and dating applications which are actually meant to carry out data theft. And a significant number of ransomware samples have also been found. As many as 3,20,000 of these were unearthed in the first two quarters of 2013."

Mobile Threat Monday: Nasty Adware And A Master Key Mystery
"This week, Mobile Threat Monday looks at two of the biggest concerns for Android right now: adware and the so-called Android master key. Both have grabbed lots of headlines on SecurityWatch and with good reason. Careful readers will recall that the Android master key is an exploit that allows a malware creator to spoof the digital certificate of a different Android app. The upshot is that an attacker could create a malicious Trojan app that mimics a legitimate app, and pass off the malware as the genuine article."

Warning on mobile banking fraud risk
"Mobile banking users have been urged to take greater care when downloading applications that allow them to access their accounts on the go. The City watchdog has launched a review into the fraud risks associated with mobile banking and payments as take-up of the technology grows."

McAfee has released data that shows that these are the largest concerns in the current wireless environment.
"According to a report that was just released by McAfee Labs, “backdoor” Trojans and banking malware, which steal information from a device without the awareness of the victim, were the greatest threats to smartphone and tablet users during the second quarter of 2013."

Mobile Trojan Defeats Dual Authentication
"A new cross-device mobile Trojan that already has targeted online-banking customers has been linked to the same group that waged the successful High Roller attacks last summer. So far, customers of several top-tier institutions in Northern Europe and a handful in the U.S. have been victimized. The attackers behind the malware are believed to be Russian."