Banking the "Un-banked" - Could those without existing bank accounts be the early adopters of mobile banking
There are three key waves coming from the banks, writes Elena Malykhina in her post "Three Mobile Banking Developments To Keep Your Eye On" on the Information Week Web log -
1. Mobile banking, which uses mobile devices for self-service functions. Several major banks, including Citibank, Wachovia, and Bank of America, have launched mobile applications that will allow customers to view their account balances, pay bills, transfer money, and even call customer service reps with one click -- all using a cell phone or smartphone.
2. Contactless payments, which enables cell phones to be used as payment devices instead of credit cards. As a separate effort, top credit card issuers MasterCard and Visa are paving the way for "contactless" payments, where cell phones serve as electronic wallets for purchases that can be made at CVS, McDonald's, and many other retailers. The phones use Near Field Communication, or NFC, a wireless technology for short-range communications between electronic devices.
3. Mobile marketing, which includes things such as loyalty programs, ads, and electronic coupons. MasterCard plans to offer rewards and special offers via text messages that customers can redeem when they visit stores, as an incentive for using its mobile services. Similarly, Visa will provide customers with electronic coupons on their cell phones as part of its payment-related services. Other companies have similar mobile marketing efforts under way.
In my opinion - another key area to look out for is - Banking the unbanked using the mobile account!
The time for mobile banking has finally arrived. Most banks realise and appreciate that they can not ignore this channel for the simple reason that the number of mobile phones far outstrip the number of active Internet users and they can see the business case. However, their struggle with getting banking customers to get online is making them wary of adopting this "new" e-channel.
You don't carry your Internet in your pocket - but you do carry your hand phone. Irrespective of age the mobile phone is becoming a part of one's life. From this extension the banks and some carriers are now looking at reaching out to potential customers who may not even have a bank account. This is one area where mobile banking is sure to succeed - Banking the unbanked - provided we can find the right business model to do so.
5 comments:
US companies already target the unbanked sector (immigrants, legal or otherwise) through stored value cards (like prepaid) - used for everything from payroll to incentives and money transfers. With the integration of the EU, the unbanked in Europe will become serious billion dollar business. What banks would like to showcase is the use of the account through mobile applications - addressing ease, convenience, ubiquity, speed. The mobile phone will become not just an ATM, but also a personal wallet. Other than print currency, it will manage most other banking functionalities - either through SMS or GPRS or a combination of both.
Of course, as the handset becomes a repository of increasingly sensitive data, security issues will need to be addressed - sooner rather than later.
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Internet/Desktop banking started in many countries without the proper foundations of security. A lot of rumors on insecurity made many skeptical and uncomfortable. Today, banks use good security standards but still find it hard to convince their regular customers.
My point is banks should use secure mobile payment/banking standard solutions available in the market today. Operators have released failed mcommerce solutions without using proper security standards.
Successful marketing solutions for ecommerce and mcommerce should always be about making customers happy and making those satisfied customers bring in the masses. I see a lot of executives floating around without any clues on implementing security.
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