Category Archives: Mobile Banking
How Mobile Alerts Saved Me $800
I am a huge fan of mobile banking, especially mobile alerts. After an experience I just had, I love them even more.
Most would agree that mobile banking is an important channel in banking today. I happen to believe that mobile alerts are even more vital. While apps are cool, text messaging is more prevalent. They are especially important when it comes to fraud.
Yesterday, I made a deposit into a bank account that I primarily use for my mortgage payments, newspaper subscription and Github account. This morning I received mobile alerts that listed three withdrawals from the account that pushed it into the negative. I immediately logged into online banking and discovered that I’d supposedly made two ATM withdrawals from banks in the Laurel Plaza in Maryland and a gas purchase in the same area. In case you didn’t know, I live in Charleston, SC and haven’t been to Maryland in over a year.
Needless to say, I was immediately alarmed. I went to a local branch to report the fraudulent charges (disclaimer – I was a former employee of this bank and headed the mobile banking project during the mobile banking vendor selection). After arriving at the branch, I sat in the manager’s office and explained what was going on. He pulled up my card information and I pointed out the transactions that I hadn’t made. He then proceeded to call the ATM department and after answering a few questions, they started their investigation.
After a few minutes, the supervisor from the ATM department called the branch and asked to speak with me. It seems that my PIN had been changed at 8:20 PM last night. Now, to change my PIN, the crook had to call from my home phone and know the last four of my SSN to change the PIN. I’ll let that sink in for a moment. Did I mention that I was at home talking to my sister on my cell phone at 8:20 PM?
Needless to say, identity thieves have gotten a lot more sophisticated. A little over a year ago my bank’s card processor a merchant processor my bank deals with was hacked. They sent out letters about the breach and issued new cards for those that requested them. Because I hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary with my account, I didn’t take any further action.
If this was from the hacking incident, which I suspect, then the thieves were very shrewd with waiting. Fortunately my daily balance alerts kept me informed. If you’ve wondered whether SMS alerts are worth it for your customers, you can count me in the HELL YES column. Especially when mobile alerts saved me $800.
Bank of America Launches Mobile Remote Deposit Capture
After years of anticipation, Bank of America has launched mobile remote deposit capture. Although they’re late to the game, they will be able to leverage their large installed user base. BofA also released a new mobile person-to-person feature.
Mobile remote deposit capture is free, which really puts a crimp in banks and credit unions that are charging a monthly or per item fee. Person-to-person transfers will range from $3-$12, depending on the delivery time. You can find more information here.
Screen shots are below:
Picking Your Mobile Banking Strategy
In case you haven’t heard, mobile banking is now the bee’s knees. In fact, using the Quantipulation Method, we can see that offering mobile banking will increase your customer retention rate by 75%. But in case that statistic didn’t work for you, it is a fact that mobile usage is growing.
Here are some statistics from comScore’s quarterly report:
- 97.9 million people in the U.S. owned a smartphone (40% of all mobile subscribers)
- 74.3% used text messaging
- 47.6% downloaded apps
- 47.5% used the mobile browser
So how does this help you with picking your mobile strategy? This should give you a starting point. Instead of having heated arguments about whether you should have an iPhone app, Android app, or use HTML 5, find out how YOUR customers use their mobile phones.
Years ago when I led a mobile banking project, the first thing I did was create and send a survey to our customers. Once I had the results, I then formed a list of vendors that lined up well with how our customers were using their phones.
How do you know which mobile banking strategy to pick if you don’t even know anything about your customers’ mobile usage? It’s pretty pointless to develop an iPhone app with RDC capabilities when the majority of your customers only use text messaging and don’t have smart phones.
So to help you get started, here is a list of some questions you should ask:
Do you own a smart phone?
If so, which kind operating system does it use?
a. iOS (iPhone)
b. Android (Google)
c. BlackBerry
d. Windows Mobile
e. Other
How often do you use text messaging?
a. Never
b. 1-5 times a month
c. 1-5 times a week
d. every day
Do you browse the internet on your phone?
Do you listen to music on your phone?
Have you downloaded an app for your phone?
Do you play games on your phone?
Do you use social networking on your phone? (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Foursquare, Gowalla)
Have you ever used your phone to find directions?
Have you ever purchased an item through your phone? (movie ticket, book, music, etc.)
Have you accessed our website on your phone?
Have you accessed online banking on your phone?
If we offered mobile banking, which features would you be interested in?
a. SMS/text alerts (daily balance, deposits, withdrawals)
b. Web mobile banking
c. Mobile banking app
d. Remote Deposit Capture
e. ATM locations
f. mobile payments
g. Person-to-person transfers
Once you’ve compiled the responses from this survey, you’ll be well on your way to setting a successful mobile strategy. So go on and get started.
Looking for a mobile banking vendor? Well check out FS Vendors to start your search.
Making Mobile More Secure
Security concerns about mobile banking has apparently been part of the reason for the slowing of growth in the channel. Fortunately, some very smart people are working on solutions that will help ease those fears.
Apple will be releasing facial recognition technology in their iOS 5 update. This means that mobile banking apps for Apple products will be able to implement a new layer of security. I can imagine that developers will jump all over this feature. One can only hope that vendors will be aggressive with implementing this also.
You can read more about the update over on ReadWriteWeb.
