
The idea of everyone banking by
mobile phone has been talked up for a long time. In the U.S. at least, the reality hasn't quite caught up with vision of turning the cell phone into a portable ATM. That's starting to change
with the proliferation of smartphones, 3G networks and cheaper mobile data plans.
A comScore survey last month showed that more than half 3G users do banking via the mobile Web and 44% of
smartphone owners. And Bank of America in July
announced plans to close some 10% of its 6,100 branches as a
growing number of customers turn to online or mobile banking options. (They probably also realized they overbuilt branches prior to the recession.)
According to a survey of 14 mobile
banking service providers released by IDC Tuesday, checking balances and transferring accounts from one account to another are the two most common mobile banking activities.
But the IDC
report says banks still have to find a "killer app" that pushes mobile banking into the mainstream and suggests payment services could do the trick. It seems banks are already trying to go
beyond ho-hum mobile services to capture customers' attention. USAA, for instance, just added a
feature to
its iPhone app that lets users make deposits by photographing both sides of a check with the phone's camera before hitting "send."
Given that paper checks aren't all that
common anymore, especially among the iPhone set, it's not clear this feature will really prove the killer app banks are looking for. But it shows the potential for how banking via mobile can offer
features not found on the PC or in the physical world.
Separately, Key Bank recently teamed with financial services technology company FiServ to provide customers a service that lets them
access their accounts via downloaded application, mobile browser or SMS text message.
Expanding features and functions was cited by banks as their top priority among mobile initiatives in
the IDC study, followed by payment systems, carrier partnerships, and the development of a common platform. Now they just have to figure out the mobile equivalent of the free toaster.