"Huntington National Bank has moved its mortgage banking division within its technology and operations group, rather than its wealth group, to make mortgage products and services more accessible.

The bank will roll out new mortgage origination software next year as well, making applying for mortgages faster and easier for customers online, as well as for bankers assisting in person, spokeswoman Maureen Brown told me." Continue Reading

UPLEX Global Launches Powerful Secondary Loan Market
"Paul J. Giefing, CEO and Founder of UPLEX Global, today announced the release of a powerful, global, online secondary loan market to allow banks, credit unions, private investors and numerous other financial institutions to efficiently and affordably trade whole loans, loan portfolios and loan participations.

'I’ve found that the old way of buying and selling loans and portfolios has simply become too expensive and time consuming, especially during these challenging economic times,' said Giefing. 'With UPLEX Global, we’ve truly changed the way the way secondary markets work by offering an online ‘broker-less’, paperless platform to efficiently and securely manage loan portfolios. Our technology allows financial firms to maximize time and make more money by putting them in total control of their own portfolios.'”

Mobile Banking Consolidation: Monitise Buys Clairmail For 173ドル Million
"One more sign of the mobile money space continuing to grow up: some significant consolidation underway. Today, the UK-based mobile banking specialists Monitise announced that it is buying Clairmail, a U.S.-based competitor, for 173ドル million, as part of its global expansion.

The combined group says it will serve 13 million customers world-wide processing some 10ドル billion of payments weekly, and will give Monitise a much bigger and direct presence in the North American market: one-third of the top 50 U.S. financial institutions are now clients of the group."

Why did Monitise acquire Clairmail?
"The traditional mobile banking category, of performing PC based on-line banking tasks on the phone is stabilizing. The growth of mobile banking is in mobile payments including person-to-person, interbank transfers and the mobile wallet.

The competition in this more broadly defined mobile banking + payments market is heating up fast. PayPal and Square have made merchant as well as person-to-person announcements in the last week. ISIS (with is operator partners) and Google have also announced several new partnerships and function so far this year. These vendors plan a revolutionary approach to mobile payments."

USAA Tops Mobile Banking App UX Study
"USAA wins out when it comes to customer experience and satisfaction with mobile banking offerings. That's according to the 2012 ath Mobile Banking Study, which was recently conducted by financial services research and customer experience strategy development firm ath Power Consulting.

The study combined an online survey of more than 1,500 mobile banking users with hands-on user audits of mobile banking applications from about 240 banks and credit unions. Seventy-three percent of users surveyed claimed high satisfaction with USSA's mobile offerings. Huntington Bank and BB&T ranked right below USAA in terms of in customer satisfaction."

Smart Phones Helping Consumers Manage Their Money
"Using a mobile device to access your bank account is not only convenient, but it appears to be helping consumers better manage their finances. A new Federal Reserve study shows that mobile phones and Internet access are in widespread use and changing the way that consumers access their financial services. According to the study, 21 percent of mobile phone owners have used mobile banking in the past twelve months, and an additional 11 percent think they will probably use it within the next year."

Consumers Want to Bank by Tablet: Survey
"Consumer demand for tablets, tablet apps and banking via a tablet computer such as an iPad is high, according to a survey of 3,000 mobile phone users around the world that Oracle released this week. Smart phones are the reigning mobile device — nearly 70% of mobile users have them. But 16% of mobile customers around the world have bought a tablet computer and another 41% plan to purchase one in the next 12 months."

Huntington Bank Unveils iPad App
"Huntington Bank has launched a native iPad application that extends the bank account access across more mobile channels.
The Huntington Mobile for iPad app made its first appearance in the Apple App Store yesterday and it’s offering the same mobile banking capabilities as the iPhone version, except they’re experienced through a much larger screen."

Advantages of Integrating Mobile Banking into Banking Habits
"With banks striving to improve their online and mobile presence as best they can, some even promote themselves based on their mobile apps. Students have the biggest advantage in this arena. As a young adult well versed in technology and mobile activities, the advancements that companies introduce are really geared toward you. Therefore, you should learn how to best implement mobile banking into your banking habits."

Intuit Survey: Mobile Banking to Explode
"More smartphones in more hands add up to a looming explosion in mobile banking. That is the vivid conclusion of a new report issued by Intuit Financial Services, the Intuit group that develops products to get credit unions and banks online and mobile. An important finding in the research is that generations matter when it comes to mobile banking: 18-32 year olds are three times more likely to adopt mobile banking than older users are."

Jeff Dennes Kicks Off Huntington’s Mobile Roadmap with New Android and iPhone Apps
"Huntington’s ambitious plan to jump-start its mobile banking strategy moved forward this week with the introduction of new apps for the iPhone and Android operating systems.
The apps will be a baseline for future mobile development as the bank takes advantage of smartphone functionality. 'It allows us to use the native capabilities of the phones, such as Google Maps for ATM and branch locators,' says Jeff Dennes, senior vice president and chief digital officer for Huntington National Bank."

Kony Inks Deal With Huntington Bank for Mobile Portfolio Development
"Kony, the leading mobile application platform provider, today announced that it has signed a deal with Huntington Bank to help the bank create its forthcoming mobile portfolio. Kony's unique Write Once, Run Everywhere platform enables applications to be changed once for all channels, ensuring faster adoption of new operating systems and standards as they are introduced, while eliminating maintenance, upgrade and future development costs."

Huntington Closer to Mobile Update


Checking getting more expensive at Bank of America
"Bank of America says its fee increase reflects the greater services it is providing, such as spending alerts and mobile banking. But the move is also in line with the industry's pullback on free checking. The availability of free checking accounts with no strings attached shrank last year for the first time since 2003. Only 65 percent of checking accounts were free, down from 76 percent in 2009, according to Bankrate.com."

Study: Mobile Banking Not Just for the Affluent
"Mobile banking users are not necessarily more affluent than nonmobile bankers, according to Boston-based research firm Aite Group, and credit unions should invest in debit cards, prepaid cards and merchant-funded awards to attract new members."

Branch-Building Spree Is Customer-Driven, JPMorgan Chase's Scharf Says
"With mobile banking, JPMorgan Chase & Co. is making it easier for customers to avoid visiting branches. Then why is the New York banking giant opening so many new ones while other banks are closing theirs? Rivals and branch consultants have been pondering the question since JPMorgan Chase said in February that it plans to open 1,500 to 2,000 branches over the next five years, mostly in California and Florida."

It appears that Huntington is preparing to launch their mobile applications. I haven't called any old friends for the details, but I did notice that they launched a new mico-site about two weeks ago. Learn more at www.huntington.com/mobile

ABI Research just released their Mobile Banking report card of 29 bank solutions on Reuters.

"The results are as follows:

A - Exceptional: BB&T, Eastern Bank, Fifth Third Bank, Northeast Bank, USAA, Wells Fargo

B+ - Very Good: Bank of America, Chase

B - Good: Capital One, US Bank, Huntington Bank

C - Average: America First, Bancorp South, Citibank, PNC, Wachovia

D - Below Average: Carolina First, 1st Bank, IBC Bank, Mercantile Bank, Regions, SunTrust, Synovus

F - Failing: M&T, Provident Bank

No mobile banking offering: Citizens Bank, Comerica, HSBC, KeyBank"

>> Click here to continue reading

You may have seen that Huntington officially announced the launch of text banking on Friday ...

Huntington Introduces Text Banking for Customers
"Whether on the go, on the run, or on the phone, Huntington customers can now stay on top of their finances with Huntington Text Banking, a new banking service recently unveiled. Huntington Text Banking is a secure, convenient and easy way for Huntington customers to access their bank accounts anytime, anywhere, using a cell phone or mobile device." Read more>>

But, you probably have not seen this...

I was able to reach my source within the bank and learned that their mobile banking and text banking products are posting huge adoption numbers.

For instance, their mobile banking product was launched on June 30th 2008 and within just 30 days they surpassed 9,784 unique users. Additionally, he went onto share that during the first month the users were interacting with the service as follows:
* 2.75 Balance Requests
* 2.03 History Requests
* 0.27 Branch/ATM Location Inquiries
* 0.14 Transfers
* 0.05 Bill Payments
5.24 Interactions/Client

Comparatively, their text banking product launched on January 29th 2009 and has achieved 17,118 unique users in just 30 days with the following interactions:
* 5.30 Balance Requests
* 0.50 History Requests
* 0.40 Service Requests (NICK=nicknames, COM=commands, HELP=support)
6.20 Interactions/Client

Near the end of the discussion he said, "I'm proud of what Huntington has accomplished. We're the 25th largest bank in the country, but we continue to provide our clients with services that are typically only available at the largest FI's. I suppose that's why Keynote recently ranked Huntington as the #6 online banking provider (unofficially #5 since Wachovia has been acquired by Wells)."

It's official! An inside source just confirmed that Huntington Bank has launched their text banking solution.

Of the Top 25 banks in the U.S. Huntington is only the 5th to publicly promote text banking, and only the 3rd to build a custom solution in-house.

This new service was designed to compliment Huntington's existing mobile banking solution, and is further proof of their commitment to providing their clients with anytime, anywhere access to their financial accounts.

Additionally, Huntington has coupled the solution with an industry leading microsite containing two custom designed interactive demos.

To learn more visit huntington.com/mobile, visit their mobile banking site at mobile.huntington.com, or check out the images below.

Tech advances making mobile banking attractive prospect
"In an effort to keep up with technology – and competitors – Huntington Bancshares Inc. has rolled out a system that lets customers bank on the move. The mobile banking initiative allows customers to check balances, review transactions and pay bills using a cell phone or personal digital assistant."

Mobile Messaging Numbers Continue to Skyrocket, VeriSign Reports
"VeriSign, Inc. the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world, announced today another record-breaking quarter for mobile messaging, based on the latest quarterly index of mobile messaging statistics compiled by VeriSign's Messaging and Mobile Media division."

Mississippi Rising
"Since his days as a college-age, back-office worker, Michael Lindsey has turned heads with his technology acumen. In recent years he built a national profile, championing mobile services and payments as the future of relationship banking."

I may be a little biased, but here are two fantastic articles on Mobile Banking by Orla O'Sullivan (bio below) of Bank Systems & Technology.

August 21st
Mobile Banking Takes Off ... Or Does It?

August 25th
Huntington Hits Annual m-Banking Target in Two Months





Orla O'Sullivan
Senior Editor
Bank Systems & Technology



Orla O'Sullivan covered business for consumer and trade media on either side of the Atlantic before recently joining Bank Systems & Technology as senior editor. The New York Times is one of numerous titles in which she has been published in the U.S., while in her native Ireland she recently served as personal finance editor of the top daily newspaper the Irish Independent and radio correspondent to the national PBS, RTE.

She was editor in chief of Bank Technology News, and a web and book editor during her eight years at Thomson (Source One). She has been a longtime contributor to the American Banker's Association' monthly ABA Banking Journal.

Technology, the mortgage business, and financial marketing are areas of specialization.

She holds an M.A. in Journalism from Dublin and several vocational qualifications. She speaks a few languages.

HUNTINGTON INTRODUCES MOBILE BANKING FOR CUSTOMERS
Secure method of banking provides easy, on-the-go access to Huntington bank accounts

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Whether on the go, on the run, or on the phone, Huntington customers can now stay on top of their finances with Huntington Mobile Banking, a new banking service unveiled today. Huntington Mobile Banking is a secure, convenient and easy way for Huntington customers to access their bank accounts anytime, anywhere, using a cell phone, smart phone or any other mobile device with browser access.

Existing Huntington Online Banking customers can log in today using their existing username and password at http://mobile.huntington.com and have free* access to:

- View up-to-the-minute account balances and history on Checking Accounts, Savings Accounts, Lines of Credit and Loans.
- Transfer funds seamlessly between Huntington accounts.
- Pay your existing bill pay payees with on-time delivery guaranteed.
- Find the nearest Huntington location on the go.

"Huntington Mobile Banking provides all the perks and benefits of Huntington Online Banking in the palm of your hand," said Mary Navarro, regional banking group president at Huntington. "Huntington recognizes that time and convenience are paramount to our customers. This service provides the freedom and peace of mind that comes with being able to stay on top of your finances no matter where you are, no matter what time of day it is."

Huntington Mobile Banking is convenient and secure. Huntington Bank uses the same 128-bit encryption and security technology utilized for Huntington Online Banking. Huntington never transmits full account numbers through its Huntington Mobile Banking service, and ensures customers are never responsible for any unauthorized transactions with a Mobile Banking Guarantee.

For more information about Huntington Mobile Banking, visit http://www.huntington.com/mobile.

*Data charges from your individual mobile carrier may apply.

I am proud to announce that Huntington Bank has officially launched its mobile banking service. Below are just a few screenshots illustrating our banner ads, microsite and interactive demo.

To learn more, please visit our microsite at huntington.com/mobile or access the browser site directly at mobile.huntington.com

Earlier today Christophe Langlois (Founder of Visible-Banking.com) published a video interview that he and I conducted in New York after the Finovate 2007 conference hosted by Jim Bruene (Editor - Online Banking Report.)

If you get a chance please take a look, but more importantly be sure to check out all of the other videos that he recorded the very same day.

Brandon McGee, VP & Senior Product Manager at Huntington Bank

Andrew Taylor, CTO at Jwaala

Murali Subbarao, Founder & CEO of Billeo

Aaron Patzer, Founder & CEO of Mint.com

Chris Larsen, Founder & CEO of Prosper

Peter Hazlehurt, SVP Product Management at Yodlee

Patrick Gannon, SVP Lending at Lending Club

Bob Homer, VP Product Management at CheckFree

Christophe Langlois is truly an innovative thinker when it comes to social networking and online innovation. If you do not check his blog daily you are probably missing out.