Mobile marketing will have a role to play in mobile banking: Celent

Celent, a Boston-based financial research and consulting firm, found that mobile marketing will have a role to play in mobile banking, and that security will be increasingly important as mobile banking enjoys wider adoption.

Key findings of the report include:

• The overall mobile space is hot, and mobile banking has enjoyed basking in the heat. 20 of the top 50 financial institutions in the U.S. had already implemented mobile banking by 2008.

• In 2009, this number grew by 25 percent (to 25 banks), and as of January 2010, no remaining large banks had launched mobile banking. From a top 50 bank implementation perspective, it would appear that a plateau has been reached.

• Top 50 financial institutions with mobile banking in place account for 80 percent of the deposits in their peer group.

• In the context of all the commercial banks, savings institutions, and credit unions in the US, top 50 financial institutions with mobile banking constitute 45 percent of the U.S. deposit base.

• Banks and vendors share a belief in the growth potential of mobile banking, including the acquisition of high-cost, offline customers.

• Both parties are nearly unanimous in their views that certain front end functionalities, such as real time alerts and person-to-person (P2P) payments, will be important in the near future.

• Both sides also recognize that mobile banking has to be a channel of its own, not an appendage of online banking; as such, the two industries feel that greater integration with back end core banking systems is required.

• Both banks and vendors feel that mobile channel monetization will eventually occur, either in the form of direct monetization (e.g., fee revenue from expedited payments, remote deposit capture) or indirect monetization (e.g., increased use of cards resulting from mobile marketing). However, many of their hopes for monetization appear to be out of line with early adopter, in-market solutions.

• Banks and vendors face differences of approach. This is especially true within the context of scope and detail. Banks tend to take a broader approach, having to worry about multiple channels, systems, and organizational units. On the other hand, vendors are mainly concerned with a narrower approach, because mobile technology is their field of expertise.

• This difference in approach translates into contrasting outlooks and expectations, as well as some frustrations. Examples of this can be found in views of front end functionality. Banks worry that P2P payments have to be cross-channel (i.e., including online, ATM), while mobile tech vendors stress the importance of the mobile use case. Banks are looking for corporate mobile banking solutions, but vendors are focused on meeting the needs of the much larger retail user base.

• Near field communication (NFC) payments and downloadable apps represent other front end functionalities where the two industries do not always see eye to eye.

USAA makes mobile financial transactions simpler, safer with VeriSign
USAA, a leading financial services provider for members of the military community and their families, is giving its mobile users faster, more secure mobile logon access to their banking, insurance and investment accounts through its new quick logon and authentication security software.

USAA has teamed up with VeriSign Inc. to simplify account access for USAA members while strengthening the logon security for its USAA Mobile application.

Now, instead of a three-step process of username, password and PIN, USAA members can access their accounts through a secure four-digit PIN, making the mobile logon experience simpler and safer. 

Qualified USAA members can download the updated application with quick logon at the Apple iTunes store or just update their current USAA Mobile application.

The quick logon service is expected to be available in April for Android phones. BlackBerry users can expect the enhanced USAA Mobile App soon thereafter.