A Celent report found that life insurers and the annuity industry are still mired in a less-mature state of development in the world of smartphone applications.

While the nascent field of mobile banking has many issues that will need to be resolved moving into the future, Hana Bank’s approach in launching its smartphone banking service is instructive, according to a report by Celent.

Led by Apple’s iPad, tablet computing is on an obvious growth trajectory, but how should banks and other financial institutions act on this trend?

Banco Sabadell is enhancing its mobile banking platform with the launch of Instant Check, which the Spanish bank claims is the first mobile remote deposit capture service in Europe.

While multichannel investment is important for banks in Europe and the United States, mobile banking trails bricks-and-mortar branches, the Internet, ATMs and call centers on their list of priorities.

AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have formed a joint venture called Isis, a national mobile commerce network that will let consumers use their mobile phones to make point-of-sale purchases.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s incendiary statement that near field communication-enabled Android smartphones would be positioned to replace credit cards has sent shockwaves through the mobile commerce ecosystem.

If Apple enables the iPhone 5 with near field communication, it could signal a tipping point for contactless mobile payments.

Starbucks’ new BlackBerry application lets consumers purchase items using its mobile payment option in Target Starbucks locations and 16 trial stores in Seattle and Silicon Valley.

While mobile payments are convenient, consumers could be at risk when mistakes are made by merchants and processors or as a result of fraud.