In an article titled "Start-up pushes for mobile banking among poor in Latin America", Matt Hamblen writes for Computerworld about Diemo, a start-up company that is launching mobile banking in August with GSM network provider Digitel in Venezuela.

On his NetBanker blog, Jim Bruene writes about today's Apple iPhone 3 G launch - and that only Bank of America and PayPal have iPhone applications available for downloading from Apple's new App Store. Apple has made it easy for third-party developers to write and distribute new applications for the iPhone via the App Store. The App Store has a separate category for Finance-related applications for the new iPhone 3G.

Separately, comScore M:Metrics reports that iPhone users surpass all others in terms of their mobile media usage.

mFoundry has announced the launch of the industry’s first bilingual mobile banking application with the Laredo-based flagship bank of International Bancshares Corporation - IBC Bank. IBC is offering its mobile banking application as a free service to customers in both English and Spanish languages.   » Continue Reading

Washington Mutual has announced that it has launched mobile banking capabilities, "delivering account information – anytime, anywhere wireless service is available, providing customers the ability to view real-time account balances, view and search real-time transaction history and locate a nearby branch/ATM."   » Continue Reading

Satyam Computer Services has announced that it has entered into an alliance with Tyfone, a provider of mobile financial services, infrastructure and mobile payments capabilities to collaborate "to provide businesses with an even greater edge when competing in the mobile financial services sector. The alliance combines Satyam's deep domain expertise and system integration experience with Tyfone's complete mobile financial services infrastructure, and will provide institutions with enhanced solutions and technology."   » Continue Reading

Huntington has launched Huntington Mobile Banking, calling it "a secure, convenient and easy way for Huntington customers to access their bank accounts anytime, anywhere, using a cell phone, smart phone or any other mobile device with browser access." Mobile Banking blogger and Huntington's mobile banking product manager Brandon McGee blogs about the launch of Huntington Mobile Banking.   » Continue Reading

mFoundry has announced that Banc of America Strategic Investments Corp. has completed a strategic investment in the company. Bank of America complements mFoundry’s existing strategic investors Motorola, PayPal, and NCR, and venture backers GRP Partners, Ignition Partners and Apax Partners.   » Continue Reading

Mobile Money Ventures, a joint venture of Citi and SK Telecom, has announced that its mobile financial services solution is compatible with Android, a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. Google and other players have collaborated on the development of Android through the Open Handset Alliance, a multinational alliance of technology and mobile industry leaders. According to MMV, its offering "will enable financial institutions and carriers to offer customers the ability to use a comprehensive set of mobile financial services on Android-powered mobile devices."   » Continue Reading

MasterCard has announced an agreement with Obopay "to offer a fully-integrated on-demand person-to-person mobile payment service in the United States. The service, offered via MasterCard MoneySend, will give new and existing MasterCard issuing customers the ability to provide an innovative mobile payments service to their MasterCard cardholders on all credit, debit and prepaid MasterCard-branded products."   » Continue Reading

Javelin Strategy and Research has announced a new report titled "Mobile Marketing: Financial Marketing Strategies to Engage the Mobile Consumer" to be available tomorrow. "58 Million US adults received at least one mobile marketing message on their mobile phones in the last year. Mobile marketing provides an opportunity for financial institutions (FIs) to interactively reach on-the-move consumers closer to the purchase decision in a one-to-one communication."   » Continue Reading

Juniper Research has announced a new report and forecast concluding that 41.5 billion mobile financial service transactions will be made by the end of 2011. Juniper finds that "the key drivers for these transactions will be the high speed of adoption by consumers of new mobile finance facilities -- particularly those currently without access to any form of banking."   » Continue Reading

Saying that "standards-based approaches to the provision of mobile financial services (MFS) move a step closer today", the Mobey Forum has announced a new document titled "Best Practice for Mobile Financial Services — Enrolment Business Model Analysis" that examines "the challenge of sharing a mobile handset's secure hardware, the so-called secure element." An accompanying slide set and an FAQ are also available.   » Continue Reading

In an article titled "Why Africa Is Banking on Cellphones", Mail & Guardian Online reports on the growth of mobile banking and how, for people in the developing world, the arrival of mobile banking -- or m-banking -- is potentially revolutionary.

"We wanted to offer something that would work," explained Mung Ki Woo, who heads Orange's m-payments division. "Instead of giving people a plastic card, why not use something many people already have: a cellphone? And instead of doing transactions at a bank branch, why not let people go to their local retailer to deposit and withdraw cash?"

Mukul Singhal blogs about the Reserve Bank of India's recent issuance of draft guidelines for mobile banking and payments in India. He also links to a useful paper by Mahil Carr titled "Mobile Payment Systems and Services: An Introduction" .

The Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia has published a discussion paper by Julia S. Cheney titled "An Examination of Mobile Banking and Mobile Payments: Building Adoption as Experience Goods?"   » Continue Reading

TowerGroup will be holding a complementary webinar on mobile banking and payments on Thursday, June 19, from 12 Noon to 1 PM Eastern led by Charul Vyas, Analyst, Emerging Technologies.

The Reserve Bank of India has published a "Draft Operating Guidelines for Mobile Payments in India".

"With the rapid growth in the number of mobile phone subscribers in India banks have been exploring the feasibility of using mobile phones as an alternative channel of delivery of banking services. A few banks have started offering information based services like balance enquiry, stop payment instruction of cheques, record of last five transactions, location of nearest ATM/branch etc. Acceptance of transfer of funds instruction for credit to beneficiaries of same/or another bank in favour of pre-registered beneficiaries have also commenced in a few banks. Considering that the technology is relatively new and due care needs to be taken on security of financial transactions, the Reserve Bank of India has felt the need for a set of operating guidelines that can be adopted by banks. "

Read more about the new mobile banking guidelines in this article in India's Economic Times.

Jim Bruene writes on NetBanker about Apple's announcement on Monday of the new Apple iPhone 3G - and what banks should be thinking about in terms of the implications for their customers. Jim's advice: "Since there is NO COST to list your app in Apple's App Store, financial services companies should rush to get their app loaded as close to the July 11 launch date as possible." (Note: Apple does not charge for free applications distributed through its App Store. For applications where developers want to charge a fee, Apple takes a 30 percent share of the price of the application. Apple also announced a new way for enterprises to distribute applications to run only on iPhones within their particular enterprise.)

Bank of America has announced that it has surpassed one million unique active mobile banking customers. "Mobile Banking allows customers to check balances, pay bills, transfer funds, view posted and pending transactions and even locate banking centers and ATMs, accompanied by maps and directions. The service was introduced nationwide in May 2007 as part of Bank of America's suite of Online Banking services. Nearly 25 million consumers bank online with Bank of America."   » Continue Reading

Wells Fargo -- saying it is "the only provider of browser-based mobile banking for commercial customers" -- has announced the addition of wire transfer services and image positive pay functionality to its CEO Mobile service.   » Continue Reading

Unisys has announced results of a recent study of 13,296 consumers worldwide that found that "71 percent of all consumers surveyed in 14 countries will not consider using a mobile device to bank or shop online."   » Continue Reading

The Financial Services Technology Consortium (FSTC) has announced an initiative "to examine the various technology models supporting mobile payments today and to make recommendations on an approach that would facilitate an interoperable mobile payments infrastructure in the future."   » Continue Reading

Al Hammond blogs on the NextBillion.net blog of the World Resources Institute about comments made at the recent Cairo conference on mobile banking and, in particular, the experience of M-PESA in Kenya. "The dominant use of M-PESA by Kibera residents is to transfer money home to their native rural villages, underscoring the importance of internal remittances in virtually all developing countries. ... M-PESA is competing successfully with more traditional means of remittances. Many users say the service is faster, safer-less chance of theft or "lost" money-and could be sent directly to their home village."

Javelin Strategy & Research has announced a new report titled "2008 US Mobile Banking Benchmark Study: Mobile Access, Features, and Security – What Banks Are Offering Now" that it says "examines banks and credit unions on consumer mobile banking offerings within three categories: Access, Security and Features. Top US financial institutions (FIs) were mystery-shopped for their mobile banking service offerings, using Web and phone data collection methods."   » Continue Reading

The Mercator Advisory Group has announced a new report titled "US Mobile Banking: Sedate Growth, Disruptive Potential". According to Mercator, "mobile banking will be a disruptive force for smart FIs willing to tailor their message to specific demographics. Otherwise, mobile banking is in danger of becoming "yet another" convenience feature leaving the broad flank of the FI community exposed to more nimble players wielding mobile-enabled alternatives. A mobile-enabled decoupled platform is just one possibility."   » Continue Reading

Fidelity National Information Services has announced the launch of a new two-way mobile banking and bill pay product suite, FIS Mobile Banking and Bill Pay. The offering supports all three modes of mobile banking -- SMS/text, mobile web and downloadable application solutions, allowing financial institutions to target different segments of their client-base with the most appropriate mobile banking solution. FIS teamed with ClairMail and mFoundry to provide the new services.   » Continue Reading

Suzanne Tindal writes for ZDNet.com.au about yesterday's announcement of SMS Banking by National Australia Bank (NAB) - noting that 1,100 users signed up in the first day the service was available. NAB's service, in addition to informational, supports transactions that move funds between the user's eligible NAB accounts. "Using SMS Banking is free until 1 November, apart from the cost of the SMS. After that an account balance enquiry will cost AU$0.25, a mini-statement AU$0.25, and a funds transfer AU$0.40." The NAB has a comprehensive FAQ on SMS Banking available.

Brandon McGee scoops the rest of us last night (from the beach - on vacation no less!) with news about WaMu's launch of SMS-based mobile banking. At this point, it appears the service is informational, not transactional, with the WaMu saying "you can review account balances and transaction history plus look for WaMu branches and ATMs" using your mobile phone. Jim Bruene takes a look on his Netbanker blog saying he believes WaMu's service is powered by New Zealand-based M-Com.

Accenture has announced that it has opened a new facility at its research and development technology lab in Sophia Antipolis, France, dedicated to innovation in the rapidly growing global payments industry. The facility, called the Accenture Payments Innovation Showcase, focuses on original research and development in all facets of the payments business, including mobile communications and other point-of-sale technology, bank-to-corporate connectivity, processing, process models, biometrics, regulation such as the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) initiative, and security.   » Continue Reading

Over on his Netbanker blog, Jim Breuene takes a look at the uptake of mobile banking in the US based upon Bank of America's latest quarterly report.

Craig Timberg writes from Johannesburg for the Washington Post about Brian Richardson, CEO of Wizzit, a South African company focusing on 'getting basic banking services to the world's poor.' Richardson's a believer in mobile banking - saying that 'mobile banking is far more compelling for the unbanked than for anybody else." I love Wizzit's tagline: 'With WIZZIT, you have your bank in your pocket.'

Nortel has released results of a new study of the 'Culture of Connectivity' saying we're entering a period of hyperconnectivity. One of the findings: when asked which item people would take if they had to leave the house for 24 hours, more than 38 percent of global respondents chose their mobile phone over their wallet, keys, laptop and MP3 player. Less than 30 percent chose their wallet first. In Latin America, more than 50 percent chose their mobile phone over any other item. The hyperconnecteds preferred leaving with their laptops. The study is available online with registration. They also have a blog on hyperconnectivity.

For the last two days, the Federal Trade Commission held a Town Hall meeting in Washington to explore the evolving mobile commerce (M-commerce) marketplace and its implications for consumer protection policy. The FTC has posted the agenda for the meeting along with webcasts of the sessions along with transcripts (to be available soon).

Wireless operator Orange is testing in the Ivory Coast a new money transfer system: Orange Money. Strategies Telecom & Media interviews Marc Rennard, executive director in charge of Orange’s operations in Africa, Middle-East and Asia. about Orange Money. As we've seen previously with M-PESA in Kenya, the mobile operators are focusing much of their mobile payments initiatives on markets where a large majority of the population is unbanked.

Clearwire and Sprint Nextel have announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine their next-generation wireless broadband businesses to form a new wireless communications company. In addition, Intel Capital, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks – have collectively agreed to invest $3.2 billion into the new company to be named Clearwire.

Google's Larry Adler comments on the Official Google Blog about Google's participation in the new company. It will be fascinating to watch how this affects mobile Internet usage for financial services applications. Wikipedia has a comprehensive article about the WiMax technology that is the basis for this new network.   » Continue Reading

Sybase 365 has announced results from a recent survey it commissioned asking bankers about their plans for mobile banking. According to the company, nearly a third of the world’s largest financial organizations are planning to launch mobile banking services in the next 12 to 24 months. The survey, which was conducted by independent research company Loudhouse, pooled the views of 92 of the world’s top financial institutions (32 European banks, 30 banks in the United States and 30 banks from the Asia-Pacific region). A copy of the survey is available online with registration.   » Continue Reading

A new report from the global microfinance body CGAP predicts that, with the right market conditions, mobile banking could reach large numbers of poor people who are outside the formal financial system.   » Continue Reading

Menekse Gencer of PayPal blogs on the PayPal Blog about PayPal's mobile money transfer application now available on Sprint phones.

James Gardner blogs on Bankervision about what he heard at a conference yesterday - 'the mobile phone will become a personal server in the immediate future.'

Aite Group has published a new report titled 'Usage Trends in Online and Mobile Banking: Upping the Ante' finding that reviews consumer adoption trends for online and mobile banking services over the next two years.   » Continue Reading

Marianne Crowe, Vice President, Emerging Payments Research Group, at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, gave a presentation last week titled "Emerging Payments - The Changing Landscape" to the Maine Association of Community Banks and to the New Hampshire Community Bankers Association. Crowe's presentation discusses the growth in debit card payments, the emergence (and potential threats to banks) of decoupled debit cards, prepaid cards for the unbanked, and the use of the Internet for bill payment, ecommerce purchases, and person-to-person or account-to-account money transfers. She also discusses contactless payments and mobile banking.

The UK's Blueberry Card Services Ltd has introduced a 'new pay-as-you-go MasterCard card' that it says has been 'created specifically to help mothers manage their finances and save hundreds of pounds off their day-to-day expenses. The BaBee Prepaid MasterCard Card lets mums budget for their families, earn money with a referral scheme and save money with a broad range of discounts, all at a time when their income is reduced to maternity pay or less and household costs escalate.' The BaBee Blog provides insight into how the card is used by a mum in her daily life.   » Continue Reading

Bank of America has reported financial results for the first quarter. Included in the earnings press release were a couple of interesting data points:

• Mobile Banking recorded approximately 224,000 activations reaching 840,000 active customers
• Keep the Change reached 8 million net new enrollments since inception, with 974,000 customers alone signing up in the first quarter (Keep the Change is Bank of America's savings program that combines debit cards and deposit products)

Update: On the earnings report conference call this morning, BofA CEO Kenneth D. Lewis said that “the current environment is the most challenging I have dealt with.”

Our friend Tim Oren sends us off to read Jeff Nolan's post asking whether the mobile web is dead? Jeff writes: 'Stop the insanity! The mass market does not use the mobile web as a regular mode of interacting with the bigger web!' Read the comments to his post as well.

Tim also points us to Russell Beattie's lament from earlier this week about his startup, Mowser, shutting down. Russell writes: 'The argument up to now has been simply that there are roughly 3 billion phones out there, and that when these phones get on the Internet, their vast numbers will outweigh PCs and tilt the market towards mobile as the primary web device. The problem is that these billions of users *haven't* gotten on the Internet, and they won't until the experience is better and access to the web is barrier-free - and that means better devices and "full browsers".'

What's a mobile banker to think of all this?

A new report by Juniper Research titled 'Mobile Financial Services: Banking & Payment Markets 2007-2011' forecasts that the number of consumers accessing banking services and products via their mobile phones will reach 816 million by 2011, a tenfold increase on the number using such services in 2007.   » Continue Reading

Regis Nyamakanga writes from Johannesburg for Business Day about Fundamo, a South African mobile banking provider. 'Van Rensburg (CEO of Fundamo) said the major driver for the adoption and fast roll-out of mobile wallet was the increase in international money flows delivered to and from mobile phones.'

In an article titled 'Just Put It on My Phone', Olga Kharif writes for Business Week about this week's flurry of mobile banking announcements. "Companies are introducing services with new ways for consumers to buy, sell, and carry out other transactions using wireless handsets."

Citibank has announced that it will make Obopay’s mobile person-to-person payment service available to Citibank checking account customers on a trial basis. Citibank says it is the first U.S. retail bank to trial an integrated mobile payment service.   » Continue Reading

Naguib Sawiris, CEO of Orascom Telecom, Christina Gold, CEO of Western Union, Hans Wijayasuriya, Group CEO of Dialog Telekom, Rizza Maniego-Eala, President of Globe Telecom's G-Xchange, and Dr. Tarek Mohamed Kamel, Egypt's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, will be among the speakers at the GSMA's Mobile Money Summit in Cairo, Egypt on May 14th and May 15th. The GSMA is hosting the event in partnership with IFC (International Finance Corporation), which is part of the World Bank, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, a global resource for microfinance, and the U.K. Government's Department for International Development.   » Continue Reading

mFoundry and Affinity Mobile have announced an alliance to pursue the expansion of mobile wallet services to prepaid and underbanked markets worldwide. 'Affinity Mobile’s MADE solution will be paired with mFoundry’s Spotlight Financial Platform software to create a comprehensive mobile wallet solution for the U.S. and international markets. The combination of the two companies’ world-class capabilities to span both prepaid and postpaid subscribers’ needs will further adoption by mobile operators, financial institutions and consumers globally.'   » Continue Reading

Mobile Candy Dish's Blaze Mobile Wallet is now available for cellular phones on the AT&T and Sprint Nextel networks. Using Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology, consumers using their mobile wallet software can simply wave their mobile phones to purchase merchandise. Unlike traditional credit card transactions, NFC transmits a user’s credit card information using radio waves to the credit card terminal and eliminates the need to take out the actual card and swipe.   » Continue Reading

Citi Cards and Firethorn Holdings, a Qualcomm company, have announced a 'strategic relationship to enable Citi credit cardmembers to easily and securely access real-time account information anytime, anywhere on their wireless handsets. The new service is expected to be available to Citi credit card customers across the U.S. by the third quarter this year.'   » Continue Reading

Transcard, a provider of prepaid debit card solutions branded with Discover Network, MasterCard and STAR associations, has announced 'the introduction of Transcard Mobile, one of the industry’s first applications built specifically for payroll card members. This new platform enables Transcard payroll card members, a majority of which have text-enabled cell phones, to access full account activity and functions via their cell phones.'   » Continue Reading

Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad and paybox have announced they are partnering to launch new a mobile banking and mobile payment solution for the Malaysian market.   » Continue Reading

The Financial Services Technology Consortium has announced a new Mobile Banking and Payments Project. The first phase will "identify and document technology-based opportunities for banks in the mobile arena." The project proposal is available online.

Yodlee has announced an agreement with Vodafone UK for it to exclusively re-sell Yodlee’s mobile banking solution. "Yodlee Mobile, which will be individually branded for each UK financial institution, provides customers with easy, secure access and proactive monitoring across multiple financial accounts (banking, investments, bills, credit cards, etc). Access is available through a mobile WAP browser as well as two-way text messages, and alerts can be received on email as well as through text. Two major UK financial institutions have already signed up for the Vodafone/Yodlee Mobile Banking solution, and will launch by year end."   » Continue Reading

Information Technology, Inc. (ITI), a business unit of Fiserv, has announced the launch of Premier Mobile Banking, an integrated mobile banking solution that gives customers the convenience of managing their accounts anytime and anywhere. Operating on a browser embedded in handheld devices, the product is both carrier-independent and compatible with any web-enabled device. Banking customers are able to check account balances, view recent transactions, receive alerts and transfer funds between accounts in real time with their cell phone or PDA.   » Continue Reading

The new issue of BAI's Banking Strategies includes an article by Kenneth Cline titled "Mobile Banking: This Time for Real?" based on a roundtable of experts from banks, wireless carriers, and solutions providers.

A new Harris Interactive study finds that "mobile phone users are increasingly comfortable making banking and purchase transactions while on-the-go – a virtual taboo until now. The survey finds 16 percent of mobile phone subscribers already use mobile banking services, with 60 percent of these people using the services at least once a week. Many others presently not banking and buying on-the-go expressed interest in mobile banking, with 35 percent open to checking bank account balances and transferring funds via their mobile devices. A third of those surveyed (33 percent) also said they would like to receive text message alerts from their financial institutions." The survey also found that the biggest barrier affecting consumer acceptance of mobile banking and commerce is security concerns over personal data.   » Continue Reading

Jack Henry & Associates has announced that goDough, its mobile banking solution, has been adopted by 54 of its core banking clients. goDough is a browser-based solution developed internally by Jack Henry & Associates and introduced in November 2007. [Editor's Note: Last September, Glenbrook's Russ Jones posted a 10-Step Cookbook for Glenbrook's Mobile Banking Strategy recommending that bankers get to work enabling a browser-based mobile banking solution.]   » Continue Reading

Manuel Bueno has published "An Overview of the Mobile Phone Banking Industry" - a 12 page examination of mobile phone banking business models: key drivers, common critiques and future challenges. It was published by Next Billion staff writer Manuel Bueno in February 2008 as an Instituto de Empresa Teaching Note, under the supervision of Professor Juan Luis Martinez.

JupiterResearch says it has found "a growing segment of consumers totaling 30 percent is interested in receiving coupons on their cell phones, although at one percent, adoption remains low. During the next year, more advertisers are expected to tap this interest using mobile coupons or promotions, although anticipated growth will remain in single digits. In order to be truly successful, however, such mobile tactics must focus on highly relevant offers, deliver value, manage frequency, and give the consumer control."   » Continue Reading

TowerGroup has published a new report titled "The Ignition of US Mobile Banking in 2008: Do the Core Banking Vendors Hold the Key?" that finds that core banking technology vendors have a big role to play in helping mid-tier and small institutions take advantage of the emerging mobile banking channel and that doing so will soon just be a cost of doing business.   » Continue Reading

Earlier today, we watched Apple's announcement of the iPhone SDK and its associated enterprise features. Glenbrook's Russ Jones shared some of his initial reactions to the news.

Tonight, we're beginning to see some more reactions - including one from the folks at 37signals titled "iPhone SDK, Apple's Touch Platform, and The Next Two Decades".

Bankers and merchants, get ready - there's a new (mobile) world coming. Albert Camus once wrote: “Great ideas come into the world as gently as doves.” We think those wings are fluttering once again. Are you ready?

Earlier today, Apple announced its plans for enabling third-party developers to deploy applications on the iPhone as well as significant new features supporting deployment of iPhones inside enterprises. Glenbrook's Russ Jones shares his thoughts regarding today's iPhone news.

The World Resources Institute has published a report by Loretta Michaels titled "Biometric Security for Mobile Banking". "This report identifies a confluence of technology trends leading to viable solutions that can enable very widespread access to financial services. It also discusses the obstacles blocking the growth of this market among BoP consumers, such as mobile phone banking security."

SK Telecom and Citi have announced the launch of San Francisco-based Mobile Money Ventures, LLC., a joint venture company that the two companies will use to "develop mobile financial services and technologies that will deliver greater functionality, speed, and convenience to consumers around the world."   » Continue Reading

The Pew Research Center has just released a new research report titled "Info on the Go: Mobile Access to Data and Information" . "58% of adult Americans have used a cell phone or personal digital assistant (PDA) to do at least one of 10 mobile non-voice data activities, such as texting, emailing, taking a picture, looking for maps or directions, or recording video. And 41% of adult Americans have logged onto the internet on the go, that is, away from home or work either with a wireless laptop connection or a handheld device. Taking account of overlap between the two groups, this means that 62% of all Americans have some experience with mobile access to digital data and tools. That is, they have either used a cell phone or PDA for a non-voice data application or logged on to the internet away from home or work using a wireless laptop connection or with a handheld device or both."

Airtel has announced the launch of range of Mobile Commerce solutions including Mobile Money Transfer (MMT), Postpaid Bill Payment and Prepaid Recharge on the mobile phone. Airtel is partnering with ICICI bank, HDFC bank, SBI, Corporation bank and VISA to enable these payments using a solution that has been developed by mChek.   » Continue Reading

Bellco Credit Union has announced that it "is making it easier for members to take care of their banking needs and access Bellco services through their mobile phones with Bellco’s new Mobile Banking. Bellco members can use their Internet-enabled mobile phones or PDAs to visit http://www.bellco.org and check their account balances, view account history, transfer funds between accounts and manage online bill pay."   » Continue Reading

In an article titled 'Villagers across 12 states to benefit from mobile banking', Leslie D`Monte writes for India's Business Standard about mobile banking and how government is helping increase adoption.

From an article by TowerGroup's Charul Vyas in RCR Wireless News: "Mention mobile commerce in North America, and the common response is a roll of the eyes. It’s not hard to guess why. Back in the heady days of the Internet dot-com bubble, mobile commerce was one of the many buzz words connected with e-commerce whose promise failed to materialize because the hype was premature. Today’s landscape is much different."

mFoundry has just published a new whitepaper on mobile security . "What should financial institutions know about mobile security? What are the risks? What are the minimum safeguard requirements and what can FI's do to ensure that mobile banking efforts are as secure as other channels?"

Abhineet Kumar reports from Mumbai for livemint.com on the evolution of mobile banking and payments in India - including the regulatory oversight of that evolution. "Californian mobile payment service provider Obopay Inc. and Bangalore’s mChek India Payment Systems Pvt. Ltd are among a fast-expanding breed of mobile payment service providers which have planned offerings that work within the guidelines and bring the convenience of mobile transactions."

TSYS and UK-based Telrock have announced they are "jointly developing a suite of integrated mobile solutions for TSYS’ North American clients. Telrock has been providing mobile solutions for TSYS’ European card processing clients for more than one year. The decision to extend the relationship to North America is based on the success of the European relationship and an increased interest in mobile account servicing and payment solutions in the North American card market."   » Continue Reading

Helsinki-based Valimo Wireless has introduced mobile signature technology that use mobile phones as a separate channel to add security to ATM transactions. For each transaction that relies on a magnetic stripe at the ATM, the cardholder would get a signing request to the mobile phone stating the amount and location of the ATM. The cardholder then returns a mobile signature via the mobile phone network.   » Continue Reading

ACI Worldwide has announced that it will use mFoundry's Spotlight Financial Platform to offer mobile banking capabilities to users of its online business and consumer banking software.   » Continue Reading

mFoundry has announced that IDC named the company one of “Ten Emerging Mobile Players to Watch in 2008.” IDC, a g