Branchless Banking is just 19% cheaper than Traditional Banks

According to the recent CGAP’s global pricing study report on banking services targeting poor, unbanked and under-banked people in Africa, Asia and Brazil, mobile banking and other forms of branchless banking are found to be cheaper than traditional banking, but the gap between the two is not a very significant one. The study, conducted across 16 providers and 10 countries finds that on an average, branchless banking is just 19% cheaper than traditional banks. 

The study analyzed the services of branchless banks like Afghanistan’s M-Paisa, Brazil’s Bradesco and Caixa, Cambodia’s Wing Money, India’s Eko, Kenya’s M-Pesa and Zap, South Africa’s Mobile Money etc. It found that by comparing 26 branchless banking pioneers and traditional banks with products aimed at the same kind of customers, on average, branchless banking is 19% cheaper across eight services. These services included money transfer, short‐term safekeeping, medium‐term saving for asset, bill payments, high usage (as a proxy for financial inclusion) average monthly transactions per M‐PESA user in 2008 and average monthly transactions per Kenyan banking customer in 2008.

New Credit and Debit Card Security Technology by Heartland Payment Systems

Heartland Payment Systems has commercially launched its new state-of-the-art payment card security technology.

According to a press release, Heartland has spent more than two years developing, and 10 months beta testing, this end-to-end encryption technology called E3. E3 is designed to protect cardholder credit and debit card information, rendering scrambled data useless to cyber criminals.

Sun National Bank Goes Mobile With mFoundry

Multi-Mode Sun on Hand(TM) Solution Allows Customers to Bank from Any Mobile Device

Sun National Bank announced today that it has partnered with mFoundry to launch Sun on Hand(TM), a state-of-the-art, fully integrated and comprehensive mobile banking solution for its customers. Featuring text messaging, mobile web and application technology, the program makes financial management possible anytime, anywhere for people with mobile phone access.

Sun on Hand(TM) provides Sun National Bank customers with secure access by allowing them to check account balances, search transaction history, transfer money, and pay bills via their mobile device. Launched in late February 2010, the integrated program supports interactions via instant text messaging (SMS), mobile web browser, and mobile applications for use on the iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry and other major devices. Recognizing that today's banking consumers seek enhanced connections to their financial institutions, mobile banking helps redefine convenience.

US Airways Wins Self-Service Excellence Award by Extending Self-Service Check-in to the Curb

US Airways has received the 2010 Self-Service Excellence Award in the "Best Travel/Hospitality Deployment" category for improving the passenger experience with self-service check-in kiosks from NCR Corporation. Presented annually by KioskCom, the awards  recognize the most innovative and successful self-service programs.

US Airways partnered with NCR, a leading provider of travel self-service solutions, to reduce wait times and streamline passenger processing. The airline initially deployed NCR TouchPort IIC kiosks in 2007 to improve passenger flow within the airport. With passenger usage at nearly 80 percent, US Airways extended the convenience of self-service check-in to the curb with the first deployment of "outdoor" NCR TouchPort 80 kiosks.

Android owners are top mobile banking users

Oddly enough, iPhone users aren’t those most likely to be doing their banking via mobile device. Instead, Android users are the most frequent users of mobile banking technology, according to a report by Javelin Strategy & Research.


The report, which focused on the expected rapid increase in consumer use of mobile banking, found Android owners were the most likely to have logged into their bank’s mobile site in the past seven days. iPhone users came in second.

Mobile banking popular and growing fast
Though mobile banking still lags behind traditional banking and online banking in terms of popularity, smart phone users are adapting to the technology quickly.

Nearly half of iPhone and Android owners use mobile banking at least once every three months. That total is nearly triple the average for all consumers. About 20% of all consumers expressed interest in banking from their phones. But as smart phone penetration grows, that number is expected to rise as more people adopt mobile banking, according to the report.

Source: My Bank Tracker

Sybase Announces Sybase Mobility Platform

Sybase is unveiling its Sybase Mobility Platform, a framework for bringing business applications and services such as banking and analytics to mobile devices. Many of those applications leverage SAP products such as SAP Business Suite, although Sybase executives are not saying how SAP’s recent $5.8 billion acquisition of Sybase will ultimately affect the Sybase Mobility Platform’s future roadmap. The Sybase Mobility Platform involves several components, including mobile servers, mobile applications, and mobile services.

Sybase unveiled the Sybase Mobility Platform, a framework for bringing business applications and services such as banking and analytics to mobile devices, on May 20. The platform features mobile servers, applications and services operating in tandem. The more prominently featured initial applications include Sybase Mobile Sales for SAP CRM and Sybase Mobile Workflow for SAP Business Suite, reflecting the close partnership that eventually led to SAP’s recent bid for Sybase.