"The Bank of Africa (BOA) Kenya, in partnership with Safaricom, has rolled out a mobile banking service for investment groups, allowing members to use their mobile devices to carry out money transactions. The new product by the bank is dubbed M-Chama and will seek to take advantage of the wide reach mobile phones have in the country to improve access to financial services for savings groups." Continue Reading

Mobile Expert Series Mark Crofton
"Cognizant SMAC Analyst Kevin Benedict interviews SAP's Mark Crofton at SAPPHIRE NOW 2013 on the mobile solution and mobile banking market in Latin America."

RBC, Bell Mobility add to payments rivalry
"Canadian bank RBC and Bell Mobility, the country’s second largest mobile operator, are to launch a service that further heats up competition in the country’s payments market. RBC’s mobile banking customers will be able to buy goods in shops using their debit or credit cards, so long as they have a compatible NFC-based smartphone from Bell Mobility. The service will launch later this year, following a roadtest with selected merchants and consumers in the summer."

UPDATE 2-Safaricom warns on mobile banking tax as profit surges
"Kenya's top telecoms firm Safaricom expects to maintain its almost 40 percent earnings margin this year but "premature taxes" could stifle growth of lucrative mobile phone-based money transfers, its chief executive said on Tuesday. Safaricom, 40-percent owned by Britain's Vodafone, said pretax profit climbed to 25.5 billion shillings (304ドル.30 million) in its year to end-march, off the back of 16 percent growth in total revenue."

Noor Islamic Bank launches reality mobile banking app
"Noor Islamic Bank (Noor)’s augmented reality ‘Bank in Your Hand’ smartphone and tablet application is now available for download from Apple’s App Store, the banks announced in a press reealse. Work is also in progress on adapting the app to other smart phone platforms, it said."

HSBC Bank Brazil expands DIGIPASS for Mobile deployment
"VASCO Data Security International, Inc. (Nasdaq: VDSI; www.vasco.com), a leading software security company specializing in authentication products, announces that HSBC Bank Brazil, a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings, one of the largest financial conglomerates in the world, deployed the DIGIPASS for Mobile technology for an enhanced group of retail and corporate customers, while expanding the offered online and mobile services. Currently, more than 90,000 account holders use their mobile device to access all self-service channels to execute financial transactions. With this enhancement, HSBC Brazil is the first and only financial institution worldwide to fully integrate access to internet banking, mobile services, contact center, ATMs and e-commerce."

SAP Technology powers mobile banking for Standard Bank communities
"STANDARD Bank has introduced the SAP business solutions in bringing banking services closer to the people of Tembisa in South Africa. It introduced AccessBanking as a service to help people in communities apply for a bank account and then use the account. It has used technology from SAP to enable agents to enable customers to set up bank accounts without customers having to travel to a major city. SAP technology is used to enable new accounts to be configured in the field using a mobile handheld device."

Mobile banking up 11.5% in South Korea
"The daily use of mobile banking in South Korea rose 11.5 percent in the first quarter from three months earlier, an increase aided by the growing use of smartphones, reports Yonhap News Agency citing the Bank of Korea. Transactions by mobile banking or banking services accessed via mobile handsets were valued at KRW 1.26 trillion per day in the January-March period, up from KRW 1.13 trillion three months earlier."

ING DIRECT Mobile Banking App Wins BlackBerry Achievement Award for 'Putting Customers First'
"ING DIRECT has been recognized for its unique mobile banking experience on BlackBerry® 10 smartphones. The bank, which was the first Canadian financial institution to introduce a BlackBerry 10 app, has won the BlackBerry Achievement Award in the 'Putting Customers First' category, which acknowledges customer-centric experiences that make a business stand out. The ING DIRECT mobile app provides customers with a convenient and secure way to conduct their banking transactions. The app puts an increased focus on savings through features like "Orange Alerts", pushing notifications to the BlackBerry® Hub for triggers such as account balances reaching pre-determined thresholds. This is just one of the intuitive features the bank has built into its mobile app with the aim to simplify and modernize banking for all Canadians."

PMC Bank Deploys Array's Application Delivery Controller
"Punjab Maharashtra Cooperative Bank (PMC Bank), provider of banking services to customers with utmost ease and convenience, has chosen Array Networks' ADC and server load balancing solutions to serve their customers with secure high speed connectivity for internet and mobile banking. PMC Bank required high availability, speedy performance and reliable security for their internet and mobile services portals. They wanted to enhance their online transaction processing in order to provide customers with good user experience and around the clock service. PMC Bank conducted a detailed requirements analysis with their compliance and networking teams which was subsequently shared with various vendors. All the leading ADC products were tested; Array Networks' Proof of Concept (POC) solution was selected after a month of live internet usage at PMC's production site."

Banking now goes high-tech with unmanned services
"Standard Chartered Bank customers no longer need to endure long queues to access financial services after the lender opened a digital branch last week that offers unmanned banking services. Dubbed ‘Breeze@ The Junction’, the electronic banking unit provides all the banking solutions available at traditional branches, but through online and mobile banking as wells as intelligent ATMs. The units are fitted with iPads, personal computers, touch screens mounted on walls, and free wireless Internet; allowing customers to carry out transactions on their own."

Filling the Gap: Mobile Banking in the Developing World
"In many parts of India and the Philippines, women hide the little money they save under mattresses or in various places throughout the house. That means it’s difficult if not impossible for them to say no when a relative or friend comes looking to “borrow” money. (Plus, the money is not secure or accruing interest). Because banks are often scarce and difficult to access for many people in Asia, a savings account isn’t an option for most, says Julie Peachey, program manager of the microsavings initiative at Grameen Foundation, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. and a partner of Qualcomm’s Wireless Reach initiative."

Ethiopia: Mobile Banking Legal At Last
"Without much deviation from its draft state, the long awaited directive that will allow banks and Micro Financial Institutions (MFI) to provide transaction-based mobile and agent banking services was issued, on January 1, 2013. Now clients of banks and MFI's, offering mobile banking services, will be able to make deposits and withdrawals through their mobile phones. They can also make payments to businesses or transfer money to clients using their mobile phones."

New mobile service M-Shwari brings banking to underserved Kenyans
"A little over two months since launching M-Shwari, Safaricom says the mobile microcredit service has performed better than expected, with billions of shillings deposited and loaned out to help small and emerging businesses. Safaricom launched M-Shwari in November in partnership with the Commercial Bank of Africa to provide savings and loan services to the 15 million users registered for its M-PESA service, which allows Kenyans to transfer money via text messaging."

The Netherlands Showcases Europe’s Enthusiasm for Mobile Banking
"Mobile banking has been among the most popular mobile money activities among users, and the Netherlands is one country where that’s more than evident. According to Telecompaper, citing numbers provided by major banks within the country, Dutch broadcaster NOS reports that mobile banking apps users doubled last year. Rabobank and ING each said they served more than 1 million mobile banking customers, while ABN Amro had about 760,000 and 10 percent of SNS Bank’s customers conducted business through its mobile app."