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Getting consumers comfortable with using their mobile devices for banking is a "necessary evolution" to reach mobile payments, according to Lisa Stanton, CEO of Monitise Americas LLC. "We want to get everybody comfortable with thinking about doing something financial with their mobile device," says Stanton. "The short next step is mobile payments." With mobile banking, consumers use their mobile devices to transfer funds between accounts or check balances. With mobile payments, consumers pay for transactions using their mobile devices. Mobile banking lays the groundwork for more-sophisticated transactions, says Reetika Grewal, director of product marketing for ClairMail Inc., a Novato, Calif.-based company that enables customers to access their account information with any mobile device using short-messaging-service text messaging. "You can't just jump to mobile payments and expect people to understand the benefits of it. Mobile banking is the first step," says Grewal.
