PKO Bank Polski has introduced a mobile payment service that covers all payment situations. The roll-out includes the bank’s ATM estate and will eventually reach more than 65,000 POS terminals operated by eService, a subsidiary of the bank.
While most large banks in the UK offer a mobile app, some do not yet offer mobile cash withdrawal as a service. That is likely to change soon, according to Ian Byrne, banking director UK and Ireland at ATM maker Wincor Nixdorf.
Banks may have a poor reputation with the public, but the majority of people in the UK would be more likely to adopt mobile payment services if they are provided by a bank, according to payment services provider VocaLink.
A 400 per cent increase in malware for mobile devices masks a security scene where many of the threats are much as they have been for several years – but where the volume of attacks means that firms should think in terms of when their defences will be penetrated, rather than if they will be.
UK banks are still in “a difficult place” as they face economic uncertainty, increased cost and competitive pressures, complex regulations and rapid technological changes – but the changes that are happening in the payments industry offer scope for them to reclaim the initiative and deploy innovative solutions.
Mainstream adoption of bank-led mobile payments services and the results of investment in removing siloed channels will see retail banks start to redress the balance between the opposing pressures of cost reduction and the need to invest in innovation in the coming year.
Indian bank ICICI Bank has partnered with Vodafone to launch the M-Pesa mobile payment service in India before the end of the year. The service will be provided by Vodafone India through its subsidiary Mobile Commerce Solutions. Under the M-Pesa brand, MCS will provide a mobile wallet service, while ICICI Bank will provide the mobile money account.
Lean and MeanWith summer supposedly fast approaching, many look to trim some fat and get in shape for the sunny months. The Informer has never been a huge fan of gyms; in fact his favourite machine in the gym is the one that sells chocolate. Telefonica’s UK arm O2, is one business that is looking to get lean for the holidays, though, and this week it announced that it is to trim 3,500 UK employees.
Cross-border opportunities are there, but Telenor has work to do in BulgariaPan-European operater group Telenor is making another move into Eastern Europe, this time buying Bulgaria’s Globul. The move makes sense for several reasons, but success won’t come easy in a country with high mobile penetration and a sluggish economy.
Telecoms.com speaks with Ali Agan, who has risen through the ranks of TeliaSonera Group to become CEO of KCell in Kazakhstan. With a young population Agan is keen to deploy LTE and exploit nascent demand for data services.
Jonathan Bell, VP of Marketing at OpenCloud, discusses how policy and pricing are just two dimensions along which telecoms operators can differentiate their propositions. By adding a third dimension, the service behaviour itself, operators can define and bring true innovation to the market that surpasses the traditional approaches of the past, he says.
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Calls for consolidation in the European mobile market grow louder by the week and four-operator markets look increasingly challenged. Now, those mobile operators that have already built scale seem to be suggesting that there is no option but to expand yet further through diversification.