"New research shows that when it comes to attitudes to mobile data privacy, smartphone owners in the UK are most concerned about companies having access to banking activities and content of texts and emails, while data collected around apps and web surfing on mobiles is of least concern.

The findings come from a report published by the Internet Advertising Bureau ( IAB) UK , supported by Weve." Continue Reading

"Mobile banking has been declared the “future of banking” more than once over the past few years. Frequent appreciation of mobile banking’s potential to make personal finance more convenient has accompanied its evolution from initial text-based banking services to the sleek apps that exist today. In recent years, evidence has accumulated that supports these notions and points to increased adoption among mobile phone owners.

An August Pew Research report showed that, as of July 2013, 35% of cell phone owners were using mobile banking, an increase of 17% from the same period in 2011. Rising usage, especially amongst specific demographics, such as Latino mobile users in the US, is putting pressure on banks to reevaluate their traditional practices and look for innovative ways to serve their customers." Continue Reading

Consumers Continue Switch to Online Banking
"Although the mobile banking channel is gaining popularity, it was deemed the least trustworthy. Only about 25% of US consumers and 22% in Canada said they trusted the security of mobile transactions. These concerns limited mobile banking adoption, with less than 2% of North American bank customers using mobile phones as a primary channel to conduct routine banking activities."

Cell Me the Money: Unlocking the Value in the Mobile Payment Ecosystem
"A new Deloitte Research study, Cell me the money: Unlocking the value in the mobile payment ecosystem, examines the challenges and benefits of mobile commerce in the United States."

Investing in Mobile
"'Mobile and banking fit together like chocolate and peanut butter,' says Jim Pitts, project manager of the Financial Services Technology Consortium, the technology solutions division within The Financial Services Roundtable. In 2011, mobile will be the focus, but that focus won't hinder investments in cross-channel integration. In fact, Pitts says mobile innovations will serve as catalysts for infrastructure changes -- changes that lead to more integrated channels across the enterprise."

An Extensive Guide to Mobile Finance: Banking Apps
"As part of a 3-part series MyBankTracker brings you an overview of various mobile apps that help to improve banking, credit card management and personal finance. The growing trend of mobile finance has led to the emergence of loads of brand new technology, which we have covered extensively over the past few months. Here is a guide through some of the important apps to help optimize your banking."

PBS: Mobile Banking Could Be Global Health Tool
"In countries where access to traditional banking services is limited, more and more people are utilizing cell phones to send money to family members, pay bills or keep track of savings. Leading the mobile finance charge is Kenya's M-Pesa system, the largest mobile phone banking platform in the world. It has exploded in popularity over the last decade and now serves more than 13 million active customers. With mobile banking systems on the rise, health experts are hoping to capitalize on the budding technology to make health services more accessible as well."

FSCC and CU Wireless Make Text Banking Affordable for All
"FSCC (Financial Service Centers Cooperative, Inc.), the nation's largest and most convenient shared branching network with over 6,500 network locations, along with CU Wireless, a credit union service organization of MaPS Credit Union based in Salem, OR, announced today the release of MyCUAnywhere, offering mobile text banking capability to members of all CU Service Centers affiliated credit unions. The latest in the family line of MyCU services, MyCUAnywhere uses secure, SMS/text banking technology to access account information including balances, transaction history, loan status and funds transfer."

Here's an interesting "tid-bit" for all of the mobile banking product managers. Last week I had an opportunity to review some marketing research from a Top 25 bank that offers both mobile banking and text banking and found something very interesting.

The clients using mobile (browser) banking are 38% more profitable than the bank's average client, and text banking clients are 13% more profitable than the average client.

Note: It's too early to say that this increase in profitability is driven by mobile or text. What we're saying is that the banks most profitable clients are the ones using mobile and text banking.

Last week I had an opportunity to review some marketing research from a Top 25 bank that offers both mobile banking and text banking and noticed something unexpected.

The average age of a mobile (browser) banking user is exactly the same as the average age of a text banking user - 42 years old.

I would have expected the text banking users to skew younger, but I think we're learning that the Gen Y clients are getting their Boomer parents hooked on the idea of texting.

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.

If you're still unsure if text banking should be a part of your mobile solution check out these numbers:

* Verisign predicts..."a record of more than 1.4 billion mobile messages are expected to be delivered nationwide on Inauguration Day"

* Latest figures in the UK - 17.7 billion SMS/MMS messages in Q2 2008.

* Over 12 mobile banking transactions conducted every month per consumer.

And, if you're not sure where to start here are 3 alternatives:

Clairmail

Sybase

M-COM

Verizon Wireless Plans to Charge Companies Sending Text Messages
"Verizon Wireless this week told companies that send out text messages that starting Nov. 1 it will impose a fee of 3 cents for each message it delivers to the phones of its subscribers. The plan prompted waves of protest among many of the companies that use text messages, and Verizon has backed off the details."

Verizon denies text fee hike imminent
"Verizon Wireless is refuting reports it will introduce a 3-cent fee for all mobile-terminated messages delivered across its network."