EyeVerify Rolls Out Authentication Service for Mobile Banking
"EyeVerify, a maker of identity management software for mobile banking, is rolling out its service to the financial industry. The Kansas City-based company said Monday that banks, payments providers and other businesses can use its EyePrint system to secure accounts, authenticate transactions and restrict access to systems. EyePrint renders the optical equivalent of a fingerprint by matching blood vessels in the whites of people's eyes to verify their identity automatically."

Mobile Banking Explodes and Keynote Announces Who Does It Best – One Billion Mobile Banking Consumers Expected by 2017
"Keynote® (KEYN), the global leader in Internet and mobile cloud testing and monitoring, today announced the results of the Spring 2013 edition of the Keynote Mobile Banking Scorecard, first launched in 2011 and the standard in benchmarking consumer mobile banking offerings."

Citi sets sights on international markets to cement mobile banking focus
"Financial institution Citi is rolling out its iPad application internationally to reach new groups of consumers and show them how mobile banking works. Citi has rolled out the iPad app to Russia and Hong Kong as part of a bigger marketing strategy to expand its global footprint this year. Mobile has played a key role for Citi over the past few years to help clients manage their accounts from their handsets."

APWG Report: Mobile Device Crimeware Evolves into Global Criminal Marketplace in Response to Mobile Payment and Banking Expansion
"The sprawling mobile devices marketplace has spawned an industrialized mobile financial fraud plexus that today drives increasingly sophisticated criminal technical innovation to exploit the mobile devices explosion. And it is funded by increasing revenues derived from potent new developments in mobile malware, a new APWG report released concludes. In a “post-PC” era, mobile devices increasingly present an attractive, practical and economical alternative to traditional desktops. In the coming years, global mobile payments are predicted to exceed 1ドル.3 trillion, moreover, presenting a mother load of opportunity for cybercrime gangs who appreciate the vulnerabilities of these peripatetic communications and computing platforms, the APWG’s analysis reports."

Refundo Launches Mobile Banking App at FinovateSpring 2013
"Refundo, a national provider of financial services to the underserved, launched its widely-anticipated mobile banking app today at FinovateSpring 2013, which is now available for free download on the App Store. FinovateSpring is a demo-based conference for innovative startups and established companies in the fields of banking and financial technology, and is held today at the Design Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco."

Chase Tops Keynote's Mobile Banking Scorecard for Third Time in a Row
"Chase took top honors in the Keynote Mobile Banking Scorecard for overall mobile web experience in Q1 2013. This is Chase's third consecutive win in Keynote's ranking of mobile offerings among the 15 largest U.S. banks. In the latest Keynote Scorecard, Chase ranked #1 in two of four categories - Functionality and Ease of Use - to take the top spot overall."

Be smart about mobile banking
"Mobile banking represents a huge leap forward in the area of banking convenience. It also represents a huge risk to your personal information. Here’s how to minimize the risk and enjoy the convenience. Getting up-to-the-minute account information and having immediate access to funds via a mobile device is one of the great technical accomplishments of banking. The problem is that without adequate security precaution, this ease of access can be available to people who have no right to it. To protect yourself, a person does well to do two things:"

U.S. Bank Testing Mobile App Voice Commands
"U.S. Bancorp has developed voice recognition software that will let customers handle banking tasks by speaking commands into their mobile device. 'I could ask, 'What is my balance?'' and listen to the answer, says Dominic Venturo, chief innovation officer for retail payments solutions at U.S. Bank. U.S. Bank developed the new voice app with Nuance, which sells mobile voice recognition software called "Nina." U.S. Bank's app understands spoken requests for information on annual percentage rates, cash back on purchases, and fees. Users speak to a microphone icon that appears in a corner of the bank's mobile app."

Boulder Valley Credit Union Introduces Tyfone Mobile Banking Financial Services
"Boulder Valley Credit Union (BVCU, https://www.bvcu.org), serving more than 21,000 members and over 300ドル million in assets across Colorado, today announced the availability of Tyfone's (www.tyfone.com) mobile financial services to enable next-generation mobile banking services for its member customers. The partnership stems from the appreciation of Tyfone's mobile banking, security vision and the strategic value that Tyfone provides BVCU members. Moreover, with an integrated path to enhanced strong ID authentication mobile security and NFC contactless payments, BVCU can now offer its members a convenient, secure and integrated mobile banking solution."

Consumer Satisfaction With Banks Improves Significantly For First Time In Years
"Big banks make significant improvements in J.D. Power and Associates’ annual consumer satisfaction study. Regional and midsize banks still outperform their bigger brethren, but the gap is closing. Overall customer satisfaction with retail banks improved significantly from 2012, largely a result of improvements made by big banks, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2013 U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study."

Over 50 Percent of Customers at Risk of Leaving Their Bank Finds Capgemini's World Retail Banking Report 2013
"Within the next six months, ten percent of retail banking customers surveyed globally will likely leave their bank and an additional 41 percent of customers say they are unsure if they will stay or go finds the tenth annual World Retail Banking Report 2013 (WRBR 2013) released today by Capgemini and Efma. To re-build the customer-bank relationship, opportunity exists for banks to become more customer-centric by leveraging vast amounts of customer data and by further developing mobile capabilities to create more personal interactions. The cornerstone of the WRBR 2013 is its extensive customer survey and Customer Experience Index (CEI)(1) which measures perceptions of 18,000 customers in 35 markets about the factors that matter most to them across channels, transactions and products."

Nationwide online and mobile banking services knocked out
"A technical glitch at Nationwide Building Society has left customers unable to use online and mobile banking services for several hours today. All Net and mobile banking has been down since this morning, while incoming and outgoing Faster Payments are experiencing delays. In a statement on its Web site, Nationwide says 'We are making every effort to restore service as quickly as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience this will cause you.' Meanwhile, customers taking to Twitter to complain about the outage are being told to use ATMs or visit branches if they want to check their balances or carry out transactions but no timescale has been given for possible fix."

ACI Releases Mobile Banking System
"ACI Worldwide (ACIW) has released a mobile-banking program for the iPhone and Android smartphones. ACI Architect Mobile Banking lets banks manage their customers' desktop, mobile and tablet banking with a single set of administrative tools, ACI said Tuesday. It provides users secure browsing, downloadable applications and text banking. The system can also be customized for individual users for more targeted messaging, ACI said."

Mobile Tools, High Fees Quash Demand For Overdraft Protection
"A combination of mobile banking and high fees and conspired to lower consumer demand for overdraft protection services. In 2010 and 2011, banks saw a decline in revenue from overdraft fees because the Federal Reserve changed the rules about how banks can charge for “overdraft protection.” However, in 2012 banks turned the corner and reported higher fee revenue from overdraft protection. Why the increase? Slowly, banks have been raising overdraft-related fees like insufficient funds fees and overdraft protection transfer fees. But they may be hitting a ceiling for three consumer-driven reasons:"

Refundo Chief Executive Officer to Present at FinovateSpring 2013
"Refundo, a national provider of financial services to the underserved, announced today that it has been selected to present and demo its mobile banking technology live at FinovateSpring 2013. FinovateSpring is a demo-based conference for innovative startups and established companies in the fields of banking and financial technology, and will be held May 14-15, 2013 at the Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco. 'We're honored to have been invited to debut our mobile app at FinovateSpring 2013,' said Refundo CEO, Roger Chinchilla. 'We can't think of a better event to create awareness that technology is the gateway to accessing the financially underserved. Each year, the people who can least afford it pay billions of dollars in junk fees because their needs aren't being met by traditional banks.'"

Biggest trends in mobile banking
"Clickatell CEO, Pieter Streicher predicts that mobile check capture, person-to-person payments and customized apps will be the biggest trends in mobile banking this year. Streicher told MyBroadband BusinessTech that 90% of the banks they deal with have, or will have, a mobile strategy by the end of 2012. This is driven by the need to serve their customers in a more cost-effective manner and the need to offer more value added services."

Refundo offers mobile banking for Spanish speakers
"Roger Chinchilla and Grimaldy Dominguez grew up watching Latin American families struggle in Queens, New York. As entrepreneurs, the two have created a free mobile banking system to help Hispanics keep track of their money. Chinchilla came as a toddler from Honduras in 1986, and Dominguez arrived from the Dominican Republic as a child in 1993. As they tell it, both grew tired of watching workers pay sharp fees to cash paychecks at check cashers."

NACHA Conference: Mortal Danger for Small FIs
"Call this the loud message out of NACHA 2012: Financial institutions can choose to innovate. Or to die. And the pressures are higher on community banks and credit unions for a painful reason. 'The crux of the community bank and credit union model is to focus on customer relationships. But now that is all electronic,' said Carey Whaley, a vice president at the Independent Community Bankers of America, who put on a panel titled, 'Innovation: The Key to Smaller FI Survival?'”

Millennial Media Releases Comprehensive Report on Mobile Advertising in the Finance Industry "Millennial Media MM, the independent leader in mobile advertising, today released a report containing an in-depth look at mobile advertising in the finance industry. The report was produced in conjunction with comScore, and is the third edition of the Mobile Intel Series; it follows previous reports on Retail and Automotive. The Mobile Intel Series: Finance report contains detailed information on the mobile finance audience, how this audience uses mobile, what advertisers are currently doing to reach this audience, and what best practices brands can use to succeed in the space."

VISA President: we’ve “moved beyond” NFC
"This morning at the 2nd full day’s keynote at CTIA 2012, VISA President John Partridge offered the company’s view on how the mobile world will expand in the very near future. In and important step in the story of banking across the earth, mobile banking specifically, 2.5 billion “unbanked” adults across were introduced to mobile banking in the very recent past which has “transformed the lives of millions of people” said Partridge. “NFC technology has been the global mobile payment standard technology” noted Partridge, “this is a critical step,” through “VISA has moved beyond this method” with V.me by VISA."