Standard Bank has launched two new cellphone banking services it says will "turn cellphones into palm-top Autoplus ATMs".
The bank simultaneously announced its new "pay your way" person-to-person mobile payment solution and a mobile prepaid airtime top-up facility during the BMI-TechKnowledge/IDC African ICT Forum 2003 at Gallagher Estate, Midrand, this morning.
In launching the new products, Herman Singh, director of direct channels of Standard Bank, said the offerings would help transform the industry and would round off Standard Bank SA's suite of mobile banking offerings.
The "pay your way" offering will enable one Standard Bank SA customer to transfer money to another customer by keying in an account or card number, followed by a PIN number, and stating the beneficiary's account number. The transfer is immediate and the beneficiary receives confirmation of the payment via SMS.
Singh says the service is simple and secure, and is fully compliant with the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act. He says solutions are also being developed to look into services for moving funds across banks.
Standard Bank's other new offering allows customers to top-up prepaid airtime directly with their cellphone from any accounts held at Standard Bank. The service is currently only available for Vodago customers. Access to the service is free, and with wireless Internet gateway cellphone banking, the customer avoids the cost of a call. This complements the existing interactive voice response and ATM airtime top-up facility.
Singh said Standard Bank can now claim to have the most function-rich cellphone banking service on the continent. "We are effectively turning more than 3.5 million cellphones owned by our customers into palm-top Autoplus ATMs."
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