Banks to embrace social media

Banks will harness social media technology to help them serve customers but this will entail more than just jumping on the hype of existing Web sites such as Twitter and Facebook, says ComputerWeekly.

A behind closed doors meeting at the Financial Services Club in London last week revealed an appetite for social media in banking. It also revealed that banks have a lot to learn.

Six panellists from banking, technology and social media backgrounds discussed the future of social media applications in banking.

Bangkok Bank has signed up for Fiserv's Mobile Money service, enabling customers to access its Internet banking platform from their handsets, reports Finextra.

The M-Com powered browser-based application, available in Thai and English, lets users view account information, pay bills, transfer funds and top up their mobile phone account.

Fiserv says Thailand's mobile penetration rate is over 80%, one of the highest in the Asia-Pacific region, rapidly growing from 44% in 2004.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the 'Retail banking technology spending strategies in Australasia (analyst insight)' report to their offering, states Earth Times.

Between October 2008 and February 2009, and against the dramatic backdrop of the global financial crisis, Datamonitor conducted its latest investigation into the technology spending strategies of retail banks in Australia and New Zealand.

The survey involved discussing strategic operational and technological imperatives with decision-makers responsible for IT investment.