Banking has come a long way, the most recent phenomenon being mobile banking. Mobile banking refers to using mobile phones to carry out financial transactions. Many financial institutions, especially banks, provide this service. Customers can conduct different transactions via mobile banking, depending on the institution.
Nowadays, mobile banking has become more accessible with cellular mobile applications. Clients can now open bank account online, check their balances online, view their bank statements, make transfers, and even purchase prepaid services.
- Mobile Banking in the past
Until the introduction and enabling of mobile web services in 1999, most mobile banking was carried out via SMS or text messaging, hence the name SMS banking. European banks were on the mobile banking service offering frontier, using the mobile web via WAP support.
Before 2010, the most popular mobile banking products were SMS banking and mobile web. However, the development of smartphones with iOS or Android operating systems led to the evolution and development of mobile banking applications. As a result, clients could download the banking apps onto their smartphones with more sophisticated interfaces and improved transactional abilities.
To date, many financial institutions use both SMS and mobile applications to keep their clients informed of their account activities or send out alerts regarding possible fraud and updates and maintenance of service provisions.
For instance, a bank might send users a text message notifying them that their ATMs and mobile apps will not be accessible during a particular period due to maintenance. It might also confirm a deposit made by the client via the mobile app.
- Following are the categories of Mobile banking services:
- Clients who have access to their account information can view their account balances and statements, their transaction history, their term deposits, reviews and considerations of loan and credit card statements. In addition, they can access investment statements (equity or mutual funds), and some institutions can manage their insurance policies.
- With transactional services, customers can transfer funds to a bank account within the same institution and other institutions, perform self-account transfers, pay third parties- such as bill payments, and make purchases while collaborating with other applications or prepaid service providers.
- Investing management services give clients access to their portfolios and provide a real-time overview of their investment portfolios. (Term deposits, etc.)
- Through support services, clients can follow up on their loan or credit requests, locate ATMs and check the status of their loan or credit applications.
- The content services provide information about finance and the latest offers from the bank or institution.
- Why is mobile banking so important?
With mobile banking, consumers can access their online bank account from anywhere. Additionally, businesses and business owners now save time using mobile applications to process payments and receive funds directly from clients. As a result, it is widespread among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Banks can reduce operational costs with mobile technology while still maintaining client satisfaction. In addition, since any bank customer can use their app to request a service, such as opening an account or even scheduling debit orders or other payments, this allows for higher transactional volumes, ultimately boosting business growth.