Mobile deal aims India's unbanked

State Bank of India (SBI) and Airtel have joined hands to form a new company that will offer mobile banking services, reports Telecomyatra.

The initiative is aimed at financial inclusion of the unbanked population in the country. Under the new initiative, Airtel outlets and retailers will serve as business correspondents of SBI and the bank's customers will be able to deposit and withdraw money from their accounts at Airtel outlets.

They will also be able to transfer this money to others electronically as well from Airtel and SBI outlets. Services in the near future will include loans, insurance, credit cards and purchase transactions.

Global spending on retail banking technology will increase by 24% over the next five years to hit $132 billion, according to the new figures by the analytics firm Ovum, says SiliconIndia.

The report states that the increase in investment will be driven by the need to grow revenues and improve customers' trust. This will lead to accelerated investment in online and mobile banking, technology in branches and channel integration.

The figures reveal that global investment in technology to allow customers to access banking services via the Internet will experience growth of 33% from 2010 to 2015, to hit $9.7 billion.

China Bank has revealed its own brand of speed banking for people on the go with the debut of China Bank Online for Mobile - a mobile-optimised version of China Bank's Internet banking service, states Phil Star.

Utilising Wi-Fi and 3G technology, China Bank Online for Mobile is developed to make it fast, easy, and convenient for China Bank customers to do the three most frequently used banking transactions - balance inquiry, fund transfer, and bills payment - via mobile phones and devices, anytime, anywhere.

China Bank vice-president for customer marketing Antonio Owen S Maramag says technology watchers predict 2011 will be the year of mobile Internet with WiFi enabled mobile phones cheaper and free WiFi hotspots more widespread.