UK mobile banking outfit Monitise has laid out plans for sweeping upgrades to its m-banking suite in 2008, including options for multi-banking, payments and SMS messaging and two-factor authentication.
The vendor, which operates the MoniLink programme in the UK in association with VocaLink, and Monitise Americas as a joint venture with Metavante, says it expects the new service options will be introduced by banks based on their particular customer requirements.
New services being introduced include:
- The ability to manage multiple accounts - including bank accounts, credit and pre-paid cards and loyalty card schemes - from a single application
- A full range of payment services -including inter-account and peer to peer transfers, bill payment and international remittances
- SMS alerting - such as weekly balances, accounts nearing their limit or notification of potentially fraudulent transactions
- 'Click to call' services, allowing consumers to instigate a direct call to their provider's contact centre from within the Monitise application for sales or service
- Secure messaging services, allowing consumers to send or receive secure messages from their financial services provider - such as requests for credit limit increases or card activations
- Two-factor authentication for Internet banking - providing an additional layer of security, through the use of unique passcodes and instruction confirmation to protect against Internet fraud and secure payments transactions conducted online
- ATM & branch locators
The vendor says it is also working with banking partners on the development of secure online shopping services for 'cardholder not present' transactions.
Alastair Lukies, chief executive, Monitise comments: "All of our research suggested that consumers wanted to start with basic and simple-to-understand services, such as balance enquires, mini statements and mobile phone top-ups. Our 2008 product set reflects the views of our partners, consumer feedback and our ongoing market research."
Monitise partners include Metavante, Sun Microsystems, BT Global Services, HSBC, first direct, Alliance & Leicester, Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest, Vodafone, Orange, O2, T-Mobile and Hutchison 3G.