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Manufacturers of ATMs, the first self-service banking machines, have
pushed self-service banking in a new direction by heavily investing in mobile
technology, which enables consumers to use their cellular telephones to bank by
phone wherever and whenever they want.
NCR Corp., the world's largest ATM manufacturer based on machines shipped
in 2007, last year signed a reseller agreement with San Jose, Calif.-based MShift
Mobile Banking Solution. MShift enables financial institutions to
provide customers access anytime to online banking services via their cellular
telephones, Dayton, Ohio-based NCR says.
In October last year, NCR was one of the participants in a $15 million round of
financing for mFoundry, a San Francisco based provider of mobile financial services.
At the NCR 2008 Self Service Universe Executive Conference last April in Orlando,
Fla., NCR made presentations by MShift and mFoundry executives a centerpiece of
the conference.
"Mobile banking provides another selfservice channel," says Brian J. Bailey, NCR's
vice president of financial industry marketing. NCR is pushing self-service as the
next wave of customer service.
Also in August 2007, Diebold Inc., the world's third largest ATM manufacturer
based on 2007 shipments, announced that it received five patents that apply to mobile
banking. The patents assist mobile phone users in locating ATMs, ordering a cash withdrawal remotely from an ATM, generating electronic checks and transmitting wireless payments.
The proliferation of cellular telephones is a key driver behind mobile banking, says
Red Gillian, senior analyst for Celent, a member of Oliver Wyman Group. "More and more people have cellular telephones. It's increased 80% to 90% in
the past couple of years," Gillian says. Retailers also are selling cellular phones
with faster data speeds, which can quickly transmit information.
Bank customers also have grown use to remote banking, which often serves as a
steppingstone to mobile banking, industry observers say. "Internet banking is much more common than it was three years ago," Gillian gives as an example.
Another key factor is that major banks–ATM manufacturers' customers–offer
mobile-banking services to reduce costs and to attract Gen X'ers and Gen Y'ers, who are fluent and comfortable banking with their cellular phones.
According to ATM&Debit News 2009 EFT Data Book, 10 of the nation's largest banks
now offer mobile banking. Charlotte, N.C.–based Bank of America
Corp., which operates the nation's largest bank-owned ATM network, has more than
1 million mobile-banking customers. Bank of America advertised its mobile banking
platform on its ATM network of 18,531 machines in the second quarter to
show that its ATMs and its mobile-banking platforms are not mutually exclusive.
Mobile banking also helps banks keep customers. "It is very unlikely a customer
will leave a bank that offers ATMs, online banking and mobile banking," Bailey
says.
