Nedbank and NedTel Cellular, in conjunction with Nokia and BB&D, have joined forces to offer a South African first in quick, easy banking, regardless of location, using Internet and cellular technology.
Nedbank has launched its Nedbank Mobile Banking service using the latest wireless application protocol technology. Opting for mobile media mode (MMM) as a term of reference rather than wireless application protocol (WAP), Nedbank sees MMM as the future of online banking and mobile office management.
Using the Nokia 7110 as the pilot mobile phone for the system, Nedbank will offer Internet bankers the ability to conduct inter-account transfers, third-party payments, balance enquiries and mini statements. The phone can also be used as an electronic wallet, a currency converter and a mini Internet connection. Through I-Net Bridge`s data feeds a user can access latest news, weather reports and live share prices.
"WAP does much more than connect users to the Internet. It puts a virtual ATM in your pocket and allows users to search for the same information that they would on the World Wide Web," says Martin Pienaar, Nedbank`s assistant GM for electronic banking.
"Marita Bank in Finland is the only other financial institution worldwide that has launched this technology in its mobile banking offering to clients. Other financial institutions that have announced their intention to use the technology are Woolwich and Deutsche Bank. At Nedcor, we view cellular telephony as an integral part of our delivery strategy," says Pienaar.
Clients will use their secure personal identification and profile numbers to enter the banks secure servers and conduct their online transactions. However, clients will need a WAP compliant GSM phone such as the Nokia 7110 and a Nedbank Internet-enabled account.
WAP uses a wireless mark-up language - a browsing language similar to HTML - which provides navigational support, data input, hyperlinks, text and image presentation as well as forms.
A WAP server accesses origin Web servers and corporate information systems and adapts the content to a format for wireless communication. Where the Internet provides the information, GSM provides the delivery mechanism.
"WAP is an exciting development as a true convergence between telephony and computing. Until now, mobile banking has been restricted to short messaging services and voice-based services, which cater mostly for enquiry services," says Simon Herbert, head of NedTel Cellular.
WAP makes use of a security layer similar to that used in Internet technology, which allows for a secure platform on which to conduct transactions. The added bonus is that a cellphone is generally used by only one person as opposed to a PC, which is often shared. Nedbank sees this as a further reduction to the risk of security breach.
Nedbank is waiting for the final security layer from Nokia before it launches the product to its customers.
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