Yet more mobile banking - but it’s mobile payments we need.

Two industry leaders announced a mobile banking partnership today. Canada-based Scotiabank and mobile payments veteran M-Com will be launching an extensive service early next year. But the banks that are announcing mobile service now are really just catching up, and we need to be looking forward to mass adoption of mobile payment services.

Who is M-Com?

M-Com was founded in 2000 by people who worked in the payments industry, and it was created specifically to focus on mobile banking. It offers pretty much whatever you might in the mobile finance space. So while it does focus mainly on the banking side of things, it also looks at mobile payments from the consumer angle. M-Com will “mobile enable” a banks systems, so that customer can check accounts, move money, set up alerts and just generally take care of their banking from their phones. But it also allows consumers to use their mobile to pay for real world and digital goods via credit card, micro payments, contactless payments and mobile wallets.

Importantly, it also offers these via all three of the current major mobile channels - WAP, app and SMS.

Who is Scotiabank?

Scotiabank is a pretty big deal in banking. Headquartered in Canada, it’s an international bank with operations in over 50 countries and over 125 million customers. It has a distinct habit of buying up banks in other countries, with four acquisitions under it’s belt since 2003.

What’s the deal?

M-Com and Scotiabank have signed a deal just for Canada. Sometime during spring next year, Scotiabank will roll-out mobile banking services to its customers, powered by M-Com. The service is aimed at small businesses and regular consumers, and is just for the banking side of things; allowing customers to check balances, pay bills, etc. There’s no word on whether an actual mobile payment service will be introduced - it’s just mobile banking for now.

Mike Henry, Senior Vice-President, Sales & Service, Scotiabank said that since there are over 22 million mobile subscribers in Canada, and that “wireless phones are among the fastest growing consumer products in history…. The launch of mobile banking for Scotiabank customers next spring further demonstrates our commitment to offering innovative, convenient and secure banking solutions for our customers.”

What we think?

Mobile banking is great, don’t get me wrong. I love it. It’s becoming widely known that offering full banking services to your customers over their phones is something people really want. Those banks that have created mobile solutions have seen huge uptake, an increase in the amount of banking that customers do, and a lowered number of costly customer service calls. I can’t imagine it will be long before every bank has a mobile offering.

But its a fait accompli. It’s coming… you don’t need to worry about it. It’s mobile payments we need to be pushing - the ability to use your mobile phone to pay for real world goods and services. The potential for mobile payments is truly huge, but there a bewildering number of channels. Not just mobile browsers, applications and SMS, but also NFC and 2d barcodes. This area needs leadership, and while there are is truly great work being done at a developer and start-up level, the field isn’t really going to strengthen until institutions like major banks and mobile operators wade in.