Mobile banking to reach 53m

Despite the general downturn in the banking industry, research from TowerGroup finds that 2009 will be a pivotal year for mobile banking as it turns from a niche channel to a mainstream channel for consumer banking, states PhoneContent.

TowerGroup estimates that mobile banking usage will grow from 10 million active users in 2009 to over 53 million active users in 2013, representing a compound annual growth rate of 51.8%.

As economic concerns prompt consumers to manage their finances more closely, their desire for real-time access to and control of their aggregated financial information is increasing the urgency for banks to create a mobile banking channel.

First National Bank (FNB) - one of the big four of SA - has been judged award-winner of the '2009 Model bank of the year' in mobile banking from Celent, reports AfricaNews.

The firm says it based its decision on the bank's innovative products in mobile banking that brought about customer satisfaction.

“FNB was selected for their excellent work in mobile banking, in demonstrating how cellphone banking can be deployed and broadly adopted to prevent fraud, reduce operational costs, increase customer acquisition, loyalty and value," said Jacob Jegher, senior analyst in Celent's banking group, and author of the 'Model bank report'.

Federal police in Australia are investigating a new type of scam that operates a fake bank call centre using an Australian phone number, according to News.com.au.

The call centre has automated computer voices to dupe callers into providing their credit card numbers. It is linked to a large e-mail scam, or phishing, campaign that imitates official messages from the Commonwealth Bank.

"This is the first time the AFP has seen the use of fraudulent call centres with Australian phone numbers in phishing scams," an AFP spokesperson said.