Online banking problems mount for Oz banks as CBA's NetBank breaks down
"The rash of online banking failures in Australia continues, as Commonwealth Bank of Australia struggles to remedy a technical error that has locked customers out of its NetBank site."

Scotiabank Wins Model Bank Award for Mobile Banking
"Scotiabank's Canadian mobile banking service has won the 2011 Celent Model Bank Award, for innovative and effective technology usage in banking. Celent is a research and consulting firm focused on the application of information technology in the global financial services industry."

Technology news: Mobile banking by MCB
"Henceforth, banking transactions can be done anywhere if someone possesses a mobile phone and is a client of the Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB). With the launch of Internet Banking and mobile application, the client can have access to his/her banking transactions anytime, day and night."

Banking Via a Cellphone and a Shack
"Mavis Nonkongozelo walks up to the Five Sisters convenience store here, then pulls a mobile phone from her bag and a few rands from her brassiere. She is ready to bank.

With a few taps on her cellphone, the 34-year old preschool teacher connects to a nascent mobile-banking network aimed at Africa's new consumers. The saleswoman accepts a 20 rand (2ドル.94) bill through a barred window and then taps back on her cellphone. Soon, the money is credited to a special no-fee account at Standard Bank, South Africa's largest."

Bank of New Zealand Requires Customers to Protect Their Own Mobile Banking Accounts
"Bank of New Zealand has taken the unusual step of demanding that its customers protect their own online and mobile banking accounts by taking several precautions.

The New Zealand affiliate of National Australia Bank does provide a layer of security that not all banks do. It gives out a NetGuard card to consumers that they can use at login to authenticate themselves. The card contains a grid of numbers and letters from which they enter three values that match randomly selected co-ordinates. To business customers, BNZ gives out a NetGuard token that generates temporary passwords."

This first article is a little dated, but a friend shared it with me last week because I didn't realize that the iPhone was stuggling in Japan...

Why the Japanese Hate the iPhone
"What’s wrong with the iPhone, from a Japanese perspective? Almost everything: the high monthly data plans that go with it, its paucity of features, the low-quality camera, the unfashionable design and the fact that it’s not Japanese."

Want a motivator for US migration to chip cards?
"Saw this in Cardline: 'European banks could stop accepting magnetic stripe credit and debit cards once European financial companies complete the switchover to the chip-based cards as expected by 2011, says European Payments Council chairman Gerard Hartsink. European banks’ agreement to implement such a prohibition could be detrimental to U.S. cardholders who travel to Europe.' Gee really? You think?"


MCB Announces the launch of millions of branches!
"MCB has recently launched their mobile banking and payment solution. It is an Internet based service that runs on your mobile phone’s browser. You can link your MCB account with your phone number and that’s all you need to use the service. The basic set of services provided by the solution are:"

Kenya: Will the Real Banks, Please Stand Up?
"The amazing growth and success of Safaricom's M-Pesa mobile money transfer service has made Kenya a focal point of growing international interest in mobile commerce and sparked excitement over the transformative potential of mobile banking for unbanked populations around the world. M-Pesa is certainly an impressive and innovative service applied to a very clear value proposition within Kenya, peer-to-peer money transfers."