Alliance & Leicester to launch mobile banking
Bank launches mobile banking service
Alliance & Leicester (A&L) is to start offering mobile banking services in the New Year.
Customers will be able to use mobile devices to check balances and recent transactions, and top up pre-pay phone credit directly from their bank accounts.
The service will operate over the Monilink platform, developed by UK cash machine network Link and partner Morse.
Customers register online or from their mobile phone to use the service, and download a small Java application, says Andy Muddimer, head of internet banking at Alliance & Leicester.
‘There has not been much technical integration and all we need to do is verify the customer and their bank account details, so it has been straightforward,’ he said.
A&L’s foray into the mobile arena follows HSBC and First Direct, which launched the first UK mobile phone banking service in October (Computing, 5 October).
Each A&L customer will use a unique security code to access their account, and information displayed will automatically be deleted so that no personal details are stored on the handset.
Muddimer says services will be extended to include money transfers and bill payments.
‘Mobile payments are not far off, and mobile banking will become transactional,’ he said.
Forrester Research analyst Benjamin Ensor says most banks are confident that consumers will start using mobile banking at some point, with the question being when rather than if.
‘It is taking consumers a while to use their mobile phones for more than voice calls, and it is difficult for a bank to teach people to use them in another way,’ he said.
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