LAS VEGAS - After years of not living up to the hype, mobile banking is finally showing signs of taking off, according to two credit unions.
That was the message during SourceMedia’s recent Mobile Commerce Summit here. Juli Anne Callis, chief operating officer at KeyPoint Credit Union in Santa Clara, Calif., was featured on a “View From the Frontlines” panel that discussed the development of mobile financial services. Callis pointed out KeyPoint is headquartered in the heart of the Silicon Valley, and therefore must be at the forefront of technology trends if it expects to compete.
“Our membership is the high-tech industry, who demands mobile applications,” she told attendees. “It is not just about attracting the younger generation to us. We go where our constituents go.”
When KeyPoint set up its mobile banking application, Callis said ease of deployment was critical. She recommended financial institutions interested in this space begin by examining the manner in which they wish to approach it.
“We wanted a browser-based system that was device-agnostic and carrier-agnostic,” she explained.
Callis was joined on the panel by Toshihiro Uchida, vice president of wireless for Fidelity Investments’ Fidelity Web Technology Group, and Brandon McGee, vice president and senior product manager of mobile services for Huntington Bank.
According to Uchida, Fidelity Investments began offering wireless access to its customers in 1998. “That was 10 years ago, and today, society is much more ready for mobile banking. Today, there are people who do everything mobile. It is a small number, but they are out there.”
McGee agreed, adding, “mobile banking has grown with the number of devices available. We see it as an opportunity to generate revenue, as well as add additional products and services.”
Asked if mobile banking is making money for the panelists’ institutions, the responses generally were positive. Callis said KeyPoint CU looks at it as a way of managing relationships.
“We give specially customized offers, such as 100 basis points on a CD,” Callis said. “A lot of our constituency is coming from overseas, so we are looking for big-ticket items, not small-ticket purchases such as movie tickets.”
Uchida said Fidelity Investments eventually has realized top-line revenue generation from transactions, but added, “The value of wireless at the beginning was customer retention.”
McGee said Huntington Bank put its focus on selling new products and services through the mobile channel.
“We were not looking to simply take our online banking application over to mobile devices. We want to bring the customer to a landing page and, if the customer is interested in a product or service, he can check a box, which generates a follow-up phone call from us.”
KeyPoint CU’s Callis said the biggest need technology suppliers can fulfill for financial institutions to increase adoption of mobile banking is preventing theft.
“They have to stay on top of security,” she declared. “It is an unforgiving audience, so even one breach or failure would hurt the market.”
McGee said his bank offers a “Huntington Mobile Guarantee”–if funds are taken out of an account due to a mobile banking security failure, the bank puts them back.
According to McGee, it will be 2012 before mobile banking truly becomes mainstream.(c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com
