Mobile Banking

Mobile Banking refers to provision and avail of banking- and financial services with the help of mobile telecommunication devices. The scope of offered services may include facilities to conduct bank and stock market transactions, to administer accounts and to access customized information. Customers will be able to view their account statement, transfer funds between accounts, be notified of large payments or get notified of transactions above a predefined threshold, and will have immediate and full control over their finances. Mobile banking is also known as M-Banking, SMS Banking etc. is a term used for performing balance checks, account transactions, payments etc. via a mobile device such as a mobile phone, pagers etc. To avail this service banks provide with mandatory registration. The registration can be done through visiting the branch, ATM, internet banking sites or through phone call or even SMS in most cases through a JAVA enabled mobile phone. If we look into the popularity of the mobile phone all around us and Mobile Phone has become an order of the day. A comparison between banking and mobile phone penetration in emerging markets is an eye-opener. According to McKinsey report in March 2010, in India, more than 65% of the population has limited or no access to a bank however, one out of two persons owns a mobile The banking penetration remains modest and this can be attributed to some crucial factors. However the integration between banking and telecom technologies will give birth to mass mobile banking. In order to ensure a level playing field and considering that the technology is relatively new, the Government of India has taken the right initiative to set Industry standards for Electronic and Mobile payments to bring about desired effectiveness. The Reserve Bank has brought out a set of operating guidelines for adoption by banks for the Mobile Banking transactions in India. Key Words: M-Banking, SMS Banking, Swot Analysis, Security Risks etc.