2010 will be remembered as the year that implementing mobile banking moved from being a get-on-the-bandwagon trend to table stakes in the American retail financial services market, the year that big banks began to recognize the channel's own legitimacy, and the year that most mid-tier and community banks put mobile banking on their short list of things to get done.

Now's an exciting time to be the bank executives charged with rolling out mobile banking. As industry fortunes rebound, funding is suddenly available at many financial institutions, and consumers' ever-increasing use of their ever-more-sophisticated mobile devices put institutions in the enviable position of rolling out technology just as consumers are ready to embrace it, as opposed to inventing tools and trying to motivate adoption.

Though industry observers generally expect mobile banking to become a mainstream technology with consumers, consumers ages 18 to 25 remain the biggest users of the service, new research suggests.

Visa Inc. may soon test a system for making contactless payments with an Apple Inc. iPhone using a case with a chip in it, according to reports.

Travelex Group, a London-based distributor of foreign-currency reloadable prepaid cards that offer consumers a locked in foreign-exchange rate, has added a text-message alert service to notify cardholders when account funds drop below 100 pounds (US$149 or 117 euros).

The Reserve Bank of India says Yes Bank Ltd. may proceed with plans to provide a mobile-phone based payment and funds-transfer service in association with handset-maker Nokia Corp., a spokesperson from the central bank confirms to PaymentsSource. The service enables bill payments and funds transfers for Yes Bank customers using Nokia handsets.

With merchants and card companies pushing people to abandon paper statements, financial companies are using electronic billing services to keep customers from abandoning their online bill payment sites as well.

Apple Inc. could be in the hunt to acquire Vivotech Inc., a Santa Clara, Calif.-based company specializing in contactless payments, Bloomberg News reported today.

Square Inc. has finally shared some of the details about its mobile card acceptance system, but payments executives still feel as if they haven't heard the whole story.

Toronto-Dominion Bank's mobile banking application has been downloaded more than 100,000 times in the first 10 days since its release.

Apple Inc. has the power to make mobile payments huge, but not quite in the way bankers hope.

Visa Inc.'s planned purchase of CyberSource Corp. shows that the payments company is serious about mobile commerce — and the potential risks of this emerging channel.

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Visa Inc.’s planned $2 billion cash purchase of CyberSource Corp., a payment-services and fraud-management provider, suggests the card company is serious about mobile payments–and the risks that the mobile channel may attract.

Two multi-billion-dollar credit unions have expanded their remote deposit capture (RDC) services for members by launching the DeposZip Mobile program, including a suite of downloadable software applications for smartphones, from Vertifi Software, a subsidiary of Eastern Corporate Federal Credit Union.

Greater New Orleans FCU has launched a mobile banking and account alert service.

Interest in Roam Data Inc.’s mobile-payment service appears to be high among independent sales organizations. Most of Roam Data’s 35 resellers are ISOs, says Will Graylin, founder and CEO of Boston-based Roam Data.

Marketing technology vendors are helping issuers pump up their transaction volume by transferring mobile-coupon redemption to a debit or credit card.

Community banks are planning to improve their mobile banking offerings, according to research by Banc Investment Group LLC.

Aptys Solutions LLC said it is counting on changes to the automated clearing house system to help its mobile business-to-business payment system take off.