Standards-based approaches to the provision of mobile financial services (MFS) move a step closer today with the release of research by Mobey Forum examining the challenge of sharing a mobile handset's secure hardware, the so-called secure element.
Prepared by experts representing all the major stakeholders - including banks, mobile operators and vendors - the analysis offers a planning guide for establishing MFS ecosystems that share a critical security resource such as the handset's existing SIM card, or other secure element in the mobile device or on a removable SD card.
The document is a timely contribution to the debate on the convergence of mobile communications and financial services, because it analyzes the application from a broad perspective, including the critical needs of banks and other parties in the transaction chain.
A range of 'shared security' MFS business models ranging from co-ownership of the secure element to renting space, are presented. The research document goes on to analyze the critical issue of enrolment in a multi-application environment. Mobey Forum's analysis targets the creation of mass market friendly business models that are able to provide transparent links between a bank and customers - irrespective of the particular mobile networks users subscribe to. The role of the Trusted Service Manager is widely agreed by the industry to be a crucial enabler for facilitating MFS markets.
"Serious progress towards a global platform for mobile financial services requires very broad industry support, and collaborative business models are at the core of Mobey Forum's work. This new research represents a major step forward for creating financial ecosystems based on the shared use of a mobile phone's secure element," says Liisa Kanniainen, Executive Director of Mobey Forum.
Mobey Forum's document, 'Best Practice for Mobile Financial Services - Enrolment Business Model Analysis ' is available at mobeyforum.org.
Mobey Forum is a non-profit, financial industry forum, whose mission is to facilitate banks in offering mobile financial services. Established in 2000, it now has 48 members including financial institutions, paypayment processors, mobile operators, handset manufacturers, and technology vendors and companies that want to be actively involved in creating the future of mobile financial services. Mobey Forum Board Members are ABN Amro, BBVA, DnB NOR, HSBC, Nordea, UBS and Rabobank. The organization has doubled in size over the last year, tracking the enormous surge of interest in developing infrastructure for successful and secure mobile financial services.