Mike Grenville of 160characters.org has written an interesting article about the lack of progress with mobile banking services, particularly in relation to the use of SMS. While there is considerable evidence of customer demand for these capabilities, most banks in the UK and Europe have been extremely slow to implement mobile banking solutions.
I have felt for some time that banking is a service naturally suited to the mobile experience and remain amazed the financial services industry hasn’t pushed this further and faster. If the banks themselves do not take the lead, someone else will. In Japan, network operator DoCoMo is using its position and financial muscle to buy its way into the bamking business, driving the rollout of mobile payment and credit services.
As a bare minimum, customers should be able to check their balance, view statements and transfer money using their mobile handset. There are clear benefits for the bank in terms of reduced transaction cost and improved customer service. In the future I believe the mobile device has the potential to sit at the heart of a user’s financial behaviour – banks need to switch on to this and start understanding the mobile experience from the customer’s point of view as soon as possible.
Mirren Fischer is someone who finds herself at the confluence of some really big challenges:…
Poetry and place...listening and lockdowns... Dan Phillips, who led the Royal College of Art's (RCA)…
Mark Baldino's path to co-founding a Chicago-based design agency wends its way from a degree…
Paul Campbell, a former chief designer at Ford, is now re-imagining the wheelchair at Centaur…
Opening the oven released a cloud of steam. I should have been expecting it. It's…
Jared Ficklin's approach of 'think by making' has led him to produce remarkable digital design…
View Comments
As a follow-up to this story, check out Silicon.com's article on a basic banking service from HSBC and First Direct:
http://www.silicon.com/financialservices/0,3800010322,39162983,00.htm
Or check out many examples of great mobile banking deployments in Africa. Route through the links on technology provider Fundamo. (www.fundamo.com)
Mobile banking based on SMS messaging has been in use for quite a while in the Middle-East. There are several excellent implementations where banks are putting the channel to very creative use. Look up http://www.acette.com or http://www.ducont.com who have been providing these solutions to banks in the Middle-East.
I've just posted a blog article comparing mobile thick and thin clients that uses banking as an example which might be of interest:
We've looked into banking with a Java based app with a strong emphasis on creating a good user experience as we weren't very satisfied with what we saw out there, and are in discussions with banks about it now. There's a YouTube video and screenshots attached to the press release for anyone who wants to see what can be done.
I'd definitely agree that the European market is definitely failing to live up to the opportunity right now.