Below are interesting stories the Banking.com staff has been reading over the past week. What have you been reading? Let us know in the comments section below or Tweet @bankingdotcom.

• Bank Tech Isn’t Cool — and Banks Know It

American Banker

As banks are well aware, many new software engineers would rather work for Google or a hot new start-up than enter the banking industry. To attract talented new workers and to make sure they are up to speed on the latest trends, banks and technology vendors work closely with universities to help prospective employees develop the right skills before they even look for their first job. “There is completely a growing need that we see across our firm,” to develop and attract new talent in this way, says Jill Pineiro, the global director of JPMorgan Chase’s (JPM) corporate development program. JPMorgan Chase developed educational programs with Syracuse University that began in 2008 and the University of Delaware that began in 2010, committing over $30 million over 10 years and $5 million over 5 years, respectively, to groom talent at each institution.

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• Amazon’s Kindle Fire Heats Up Tablet Banking App Development

Bank Systems & Technology

As tablet computers proliferate, banks continue to race to keep up with new tablet banking options. In March, both Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America and New York-based Citi released mobile applications developed specifically for the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet. The announcements were made little more than a week apart. The Citibank Kindle Fire Edition app features many of the same rich graphics and interactivity that the bank’s Apple iPad app offers, including in-depth personal financial management tools and interactive charts, as well as access to financial education resources and Citibanl’s real-time Twitter customer support. But while the tablet apps are similar, the bank stresses that the new app was designed exclusively for the Kindle Fire, “with every component, graphic, touch action, button and slider customized to the tablet’s modified operating system, form factor, screen size and resolution,” according to a release.

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• Mobile Adoption Lags Due To Lack Of Marketing

Credit Union Journal

Financial institutions are not adequately promoting their mobile banking offerings, according to ath Power Consulting, a provider of financial services research and customer experience strategy development. The firm said its “2012 ath Power Mobile Banking Study” also found remote deposit capture is the missing feature most sought by bank customers. The national study ranked customer satisfaction with today’s mobile banking offerings, with USAA earning the top spot with 73% of its users claiming high satisfaction. “The revenue potential for banks who add compelling features to their mobile offerings could be significant,” noted Frank Aloi, president and CEO, ath Power.

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• Customized Tools For Small Business Paying Off

Credit Union Journal

Stanford FCU wins the hearts of its “best” members with a trove of custom-built small business products and services-and a vibrant consumer mobile channel that business members seem to love, according to Jim Phillips, SVP and CIO at the $1.4-billion organization here. “All credit unions need to remain relevant by expanding tools for businesses, even if the business is a DBA,” Phillips suggested. “You don’t want to scare off your best members-they’ll go to Chase or BofA with their business account and take their personal account with it.” Business members, representing 10% of the credit union’s total membership, particularly enjoy the ability to manage their business accounts online alongside their personal accounts, he said.

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• Mobile Banking Set To Explode, Here’s What Marketers Need to Know

The Financial Brand

Two research studies on mobile banking tell financial marketers they need to pay more attention to this critical channel. One study commissioned by the Federal Reserve System examines the increasing impact mobile tools have had on consumers’ banking, budgeting, shopping and payments behaviors. The report titled “Consumers and Mobile Financial Services” presents findings from an online survey with over 2,200 participants, conducted in December 2011 and January 2012. The report explores the use of mobile technologies as a means to access financial services and make financial decisions.

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• What is the Future of Mobile Money? [Part 1]

ReadWriteWeb

To understand the future of money and transactions, one must understand the nature of currency. Foremost, it is not real. A coin, a paper bill, a debit or credit card hold no value as objects. Currency has always been a form of data. Currency is the first digital revolution, started to turn it into what we now think of as traditional data. That has set us up for the second digital evolution of currency: where mobile technology and the cloud once again change how people make transactions.

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• How the iPad Is Revolutionizing Local Businesses

ReadWriteWeb

Tablets, especially Apple’s iPad, are increasingly finding homes in restaurants and local businesses. They are changing how businesses conduct transactions and receive customer feedback. In a data-driven world, Main Street retailers are on the verge of a significant evolution. The top POS vendors, such as Aloha, Micros and POSitouch, charge thousands of dollars to restaurants and retailers to set up and maintain these systems.

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• How B2B Marketers Use Social Media: New Research

Social Media Examiner

Are you wondering, “How does social media work differently for B2B businesses?” In the 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, Mike Stelzner asked marketers how they’re using social media. Of the B2B marketers who took this year’s survey, over 93% use social media to market their businesses. While that’s slightly below their consumer-focused brethren (95.2%), there’s been a significant increase since the 2010 survey when only 88% of B2B marketers responded affirmatively.

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• Tablets for mobile banking? Javelin report identifies top three banks

Tab Times

Citibank’s banking app for Amazon’s Kindle Fire got high marks for helping customers analyze their account spending, set goals and budgets. Mobile banking on tablets is booming. A new report says the number of tablet owners engaged in mobile banking is growing at twice the rate of non-tablet owners (49% vs. 22%).  Javelin Strategy & Research says it expects the growth of tablet banking will continue as overall tablet adoption is forecast to grow to 40% by 2016.

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Below are interesting stories the Banking.com staff has been reading over the past week. What have you been reading? Let us know in the comments section below or Tweet @bankingdotcom.

• In Middle America, Amber Waves of Fin-Tech Startups

American Banker

Financial technology startups dot the landscape like grain silos mark the surrounding farmland. In Silicon Prairie, mobile payments, online banking and core banking services are the new cash crop. The geographic triangle drawn around Omaha, Neb., Des Moines, Iowa, and Kansas City, Mo., (one of several regions to share the Silicon Prairie name) has been a technology powerhouse for decades. But in the past five years that trend has accelerated, with numerous new companies taking root there to help retail banks keep ahead of technology trends, even amid the recession.

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• The Future of Banking Could Include Palm Reading

American Banker

The future of branch banking might involve palm reading. For 2012, that means using palm technology to verify identities at an automated teller machine and not a mystical, soothsaying woman telling you that you’ll be married three times. The technology is found in prototypes of new branch technology at consulting firm Accenture’s financial services innovation centers across the world. Accenture on Thursday partnered with Filene Research Institute to give attendees at a credit union conference in Chicago insight into how branches will operate in the digital age. Although the conference was for credit unions, there were plenty of takeaways for banks.

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• Resurgence for Small Business Bankers

Barlow Research Analyst’s Journal

Last year at this time, Barlow Research reported that the branch staff was the glue holding together the small business banking relationship. During 2010, a greater percentage of small businesses with sales of $100,000 to <$10 million that selected the branch manager as their primary contact was very satisfied with their bank compared to those selecting an account officer. At that time, branch managers were more accessible, followed up on requests and understood the company’s objectives compared to account officers. To be released in May, Barlow’s 2012 Small Business Banking Annual Report again analyzed customer evaluations of the branch manager and the account officer.

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• It’s not just Instagram. The ‘app economy’ is taking off.

Christian Science Monitor

Facebook’s $1 billion purchase of smartphone app Instagram is just the tip of the iceberg. Apps represent a $20 billion industry employing nearly 500,000 people. Three years ago, frustrated in his search for a summer job, Valparaiso University senior Cameron Banga decided to try less traditional work: writing apps. The result? A battery-monitoring application for the iPhone called Battery Go!

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• The Missing Tab at Banking Websites

Net Banker

You can debate whether branches are dead or simply need a good pruning. But, there is no argument about the importance of a well-designed website where prospective customers can learn about what you have to offer. Financial institutions do a good job showcasing products, rates, and available accounts. But shoppers, especially ones not already familiar with you, want to understand what it’s like to bank with you and whether you’ll be there for them if there’s a problem.

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• A Bank Account That Helps Pay Off Student Loans

New York Times

A new online bank aims to help graduates reduce their student debts, by paying rewards when they use their debit cards. SmarterBank, an offering from SimpleTuition Inc., was introduced this month to help students and families save on educational expenses. SmarterBank isn’t actually a bank, but it offers banking functions through the Bancorp Bank, which provides the plumbing for various online financial services companies. “Increasingly, over the last year or so, the new problem in student lending is helping graduates find a way to manage repayment of their loans,” Kevin Walker, chief executive of SimpleTuition, said in a phone interview.

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• Digitizing your personal finance life

Reuters

Have you emerged yet from the mountain of receipts and financial statements you need to sort and calculate to complete your tax return? And is paper already piling up or 2012? Americans spent an average 22 hours last year filling out tax forms. Even at the office, we spend an average 30 minutes a week hunting for paperwork, according to Brother International. A bad organizational system – or no system – is both time-consuming and costly.

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• Pew: 65% of experts say most people will adopt mobile payments by 2020

VentureBeat

There’s no doubt that mobile payments are generating plenty of hype among the tech community, but how long will it be until they go mainstream? 65 percent of experts surveyed by the Pew Research Center agreed with a statement that said mobile payments would take off by 2020, according a new report released today, “The future of money: Smartphone swiping in the digital age.” 33 percent of experts agreed with a more negative statement, which said that consumers wouldn’t trust mobile payments to replace cash and credit cards by 2020. It’s worth noting that those surveyed only had two scenarios to choose from, so there’s additional complexity to consider from the experts. Most of those who said mobile payments will take off, for example, also said that cash and credit cards won’t disappear entirely. Consumers hoping for anonymity, or those simply refuse to change, will likely stick with current methods.

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• Credit union attracts younger members with free tunes

Washington Post

Take your pick: Three percent interest on your checking account or $10 in iTunes downloads every month. It was an easy choice for Tim Klapac, 20, who opted for the latter. The College Park resident says his iTunes library has grown to include nearly 800 songs since he signed up for the Kasasa Tunes program at Money One Federal Credit Union a year ago. “Online purchases are huge for people my age, and this is just so convenient,” Klapac said. Largo-based Money One began offering the Kasasa Tunes program nearly two years ago in hopes of attracting younger members.

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Below are interesting stories the Banking.com staff has been reading over the past week. What have you been reading? Let us know in the comments section below or Tweet @bankingdotcom.

• Obama Signs Law Easing Access to Credit for Small Banks, Businesses

American Banker

President Obama signed legislation Thursday that will remove impediments faced by some small banks and other businesses as they seek to raise new capital. The law passed Congress with strong bipartisan support, overcoming a late backlash from consumer groups and some congressional Democrats who say that it will weaken investor protections and open the door to more financial fraud. During a Rose Garden signing ceremony, Obama did not address that criticism, though he did warn congressional Republicans who were in attendance that the Securities and Exchange Commission needs to get proper funding from Congress. Obama’s remarks focused largely on America’s legacy of entrepreneurialism — he invoked the names of Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg — while touting the law’s crowd-funding provisions, which will allow start-up companies to raise money online from small investors.

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• Banks Have Big Stake in Battle Over Postal Reform

American Banker

It’s probably not an exaggeration to say that the banking industry relies on the post office more than any other sector of the U.S. economy. More than half of all statements and bills sent through the mail come from banks, savings and loans, and credit unions, according to the U.S. Postal Service. And those 4 billion or so mailings per year are matched by roughly the same number of advertising offers from credit-card issuers. That leaves banks with a big stake in the debate on Capitol Hill over how to reform the Postal Service, which has suffered a sharp drop in revenue as a result of the recession and rapid changes in technology.

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• SaveUp.com to stash cash, win prizes

Chicago Sun Times

Would you take a bribe? To do the right things? Things like saving and paying down your debt? That’s part of the interesting psychology behind SaveUp.com — a free website that lets you earn a shot at cash and other prizes, just for doing the right thing. The concept has taken off since the site was launched Nov. 1, 2011. In less than six months, SaveUp users have deposited $25,752,249.51 into their savings and paid down $22,278,973.93 in debt.

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• Sobering Stats: Brands Struggle For Engagement In Social Media

TheFinancialBrand.com

Take a quick tour around the web and you’ll find no shortage of social media junkies and innovation addicts listing the myriad of things financial institutions could do in social channels. While they pound the drum of “potential and possibilities,” financial marketers are seldom (if ever) offered any hardcore stats on actual rates of engagement. We are constantly reminded that there are 850 million users on Facebook, and many believe that fact alone should persuade marketing managers of social media’s power. But that number only represents 12.4% of the world’s population, and (of course) you probably aren’t targeting the entire world. In the US, for instance, around 150 million people, or about half the total population, have a Facebook account. So if you have 100,000 customers, you could feasibly reach only 50%. But how many don’t know or don’t care that you have a Facebook page?

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• Customer Service 2.0: The Importance of Live Chat In Banking

The Financial Brand

For more than 40 years, financial institutions have actively pushed consumers into to self-service channels — from phone banking and ATMs decades ago, to online and mobile banking today. As banks and credit unions have been busy implementing one technology after another, something got lost along the way: personal interactions. The internet’s overall affect on banking has been generally positive. However, banking consumers today have less stake with financial institutions. The relationship is missing, so they see their bank as disembodied (at best), and potentially untrustworthy (at worst).

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• Advantages of banking at credit unions

MarketWatch

As big banks have been hammered over the past couple of years, many consumers have turned to credit unions and community banks as alternatives. Why? Mainly because they were financially healthier, not to mention more focused on customer service. During a recent trip to Washington, D.C., he had the opportunity to sit down with Bill Myers, director of the Office of Small Business Credit Union Initiatives for the National Credit Union Administration.

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• Yodlee launches new mobile services for FIs

Mobile Payments Today

Yodlee is getting in on the growing mobile P2P market. The Silicon Valley company, a technology and mobile banking provider for financial institutions, recently announced the launch of Yodlee MoneyMovement, an open platform that lets FIs offer services like account-to-account fund transfers, bill payment and P2P payments. “With Yodlee MoneyMovement, we’re extending our reputation as innovators, this time into payments and transactions, enabling faster, safer payments and transfers,” said Yodlee’s SVP of Products, Eric Connors in a statement. Connors said the company designed, built and tested its platform in conjunction with the world’s largest retail banks to be flexible, scalable, and extensible in response to the rapidly evolving payments landscape FIs are competing in now.

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• “If Facebook Were Built Today, It Would Be a Mobile App”

ReadWriteWeb

James Pearce, head of mobile developer relations for Facebook, likes to point out that “you and your friends don’t always have the same devices” or even use the same mobile platforms. That’s a problem for the company, as it has to support all the major platforms, from Apple iOS to Google Android and beyond – often putting it in the position of benefitting its competitors. But it’s also a huge opportunity for Facebook itself to shape and dominate that common platform. At a small lunch with reporters on the social media giant’s luxe new Silicon Valley campus, Pearce explained that the mobile issue is far from trivial.

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• How much is a tweet worth? About 1/10,000 as much as a Yelp review

VentureBeat

Tweets, status updates, pins, check-ins: They may seem trivial to you, but they’re valuable content to social networking companies. For example: Next time you make an update in Path, consider that you just helped that company make 50 cents in revenue. Just how much value do you represent to these companies? Backupify, a cloud data backup service, decided to do some quick math.

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Below are interesting stories the Banking.com staff has been reading over the past week. What have you been reading? Let us know in the comments section below or Tweet @bankingdotcom.

• Major Breaches Could Undermine Consumer Confidence, Experts Warn

American Banker

Consumers still have faith in payment cards, but Global Payments Inc.’s massive data breach will make life tougher for issuers trying to reassure audiences that all is well. News of the event rippled across mainstream websites over the past weekend, reawakening consumer and industry concerns about the risk to millions when criminals expose sensitive data, says Mike Urban, director of financial crimes solutions at Fiserv. “It’s clear the fraud problem is not going away, and major breaches are not slowing up like we were sort of hoping,” he says, referring to a lull in major data breaches that appeared to be setting in during portions of 2010 and 2011. The payment industry over the past few years has made big strides in protecting data against major breaches after the massive Heartland Payment Systems breach in 2008, Urban notes.

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• Mobile Banking Users Cite Lack of Tech Support as Biggest Void

American Banker

A recent survey of 1,527 mobile banking users found a gaping void in the typical mobile banking application — a lack of technical support, tutorials and advice. Asked about the one improvement they’d most like to see in their mobile banking application, 60% of these consumers said links/contact information for technical support. “This was a strong theme in the responses we got,” says Michael McEvoy, managing director at ath Power Consulting, based in Boston and Washington, D.C., the firm that conducted the survey. “Users feel they’re not getting the kind of mobile banking help and guidance that they’d like to have. Some complained about difficulty navigating the app. Some felt there was a lack of support and guidance to help if you’re not sure what to do next.

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• Generation Y Not Yet Business Owners, Baby Boomers Not Yet Retired

Barlow Research

Recent research released by the Labor Bureau overwhelmingly shows that both business births and deaths were adversely impacted during the most recent recession. What the Labor Bureau research does not show is who is sitting on the sidelines and how this will impact the future business plans of the small business owner. Although the recession appears to have taken a toll on both ends of the company’s business life cycle, the business owner community is growing older. In 2011, the average small business had been in existence for 26 years, an increase of 4 years when compared to 2001. At 58 years old, the average business owner’s age has also increased six years since 2001.

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• US consumer ready to pay for mobile banking services: Study

Banking Business Review

According to The ath Power 2012 Mobile Banking Study, US consumers have expressed their willingness to pay as much as $11 per month for mobile banking services. ath Power president and CEO Frank Aloi said the revenue potential for banks who add compelling features to their mobile offerings could be significant. “However, it is alarming that only 10 percent of users were prompted to first use their bank’s mobile channel by their actual bank. This indicates a clear lack of customer education, yet an obvious opportunity for banks to take initiative to promote their offerings,” Aloi said. An online survey was conducted over 1,527 mobile banking users to assess their current banking behaviors and present mobile banking experiences.

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• Mobility Matters – Tracking the Mobile Banking Revolution: Online Only

Credit Union Times

Credit Union Mobile Banking Debut of The Week:  “We are gearing this to a younger membership. We are ahead of the curve, that’s where we want to be,” said Christopher White, a senior vice president at Waltham, Mass-based RTN FCU, a $720 million institution with 37,000 members. “Members have been asking us for mobile banking and remote deposit capture – we are giving them both.  But we are doing more,” said White. That “more” is the interesting bit, as RTN – after looking at various mobile banking solutions – opted to go with Portland, Ore.-based Tyfone’s multi-layered mobile wallet.

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• Smart Phones Helping Consumers Manage Their Money

Forbes.com

Using a mobile device to access your bank account is not only convenient, but it appears to be helping consumers better manage their finances. A new Federal Reserve study shows that mobile phones and Internet access are in widespread use and changing the way that consumers access their financial services. According to the study, 21 percent of mobile phone owners have used mobile banking in the past twelve months, and an additional 11 percent think they will probably use it within the next year. Two-thirds of mobile banking users say they used their mobile phone to check an account balance or available credit before making a large purchase in the past twelve months.

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• First job brings first paycheck; next up, first budget ; It’s never too early to plan for retirement

USA Today

With your first “big” job comes your first “big” paycheck. But it also comes with the question of what to do with that hard- earned cash. If you take time now to plan when it comes to budgeting and saving, then the credit card you get and even your retirement fund will pay off, literally, in the long run. “Establishing a working budget is critical,” says Vince Shorb, chief marketing officer at the National Financial Educators Council.

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Below are interesting stories the Banking.com staff has been reading over the past week. What have you been reading? Let us know in the comments section below or Tweet @bankingdotcom.

• Student Lending Market ‘Too Big to Fail’: CFPB Official

American Banker

Total outstanding student loans in the U.S. have grown to the point of having potential far-reaching effects on the financial system, an official from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau told bankers this past week. Following his announcement that student-loan debt has topped $1 trillion, Rohit Chopra, the CFPB’s student loan ombudsman, said the market was now larger than previous estimates. Chopra said the increasing debt, mostly from federal student loans, could hamper the housing market recovery in the near term, and have long-lasting effects on other bank products. (The bureau’s estimates of total student loan debt came from a joint study with the Department of Education.)

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• With Eye on U.S. Mobile Pay Market, Monitise to Merge with Clairmail

American Banker

Seeing a major opportunity in the U.S. market, Monitise and Clairmail this morning announced a merger deal in which they will cross-polinate and cross-sell each other’s technology in their respective markets. Assuming the deal goes through, the two companies will have 33% of the top 50 U.S. banks as customers and a total of 300 bank customers. The two companies would have pro-forma combined revenues of $56 million at the end of 2011. Both companies’ executives stressed their philosophy of keeping banks at the heart of mobile payment and mobile commerce transactions.

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• Big Data or Big Hassle? New SAS Tool Offers Simplicity

American Banker

Banks have long struggled to make sense of the oceans of data they produce. They can buy tools to help mine, analyze and structure really big amounts of data, but until now, these products have not been very user-friendly, limiting their appeal. One of the latest data discovery products, announced Thursday by SAS Institute, promises to let non-IT folks in banks do complex big data modeling from their own computers. Data discovery products typically rely on an in-memory middleware layer that can pull and temporarily store massive amounts of data quickly. With its SAS Visual Analytics product, “we can have the modelers [at banks] who used to build one model a day, because it took so long, build a model every 15 minutes,” says James Goodnight, the Cary, N.C., company’s chief executive.

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• Tablets Hold Game-Changing Implications for Banks

Bank Systems & Technology

It’s fitting that Bank Systems & Technology closed the April 2012 digital issue covering the evolution of mobile technology in the banking industry the same week that Apple introduced the “new iPad.” The updated version of the tablet (which is not being called the iPad 3 even though it is the third edition of the device) includes an improved screen and enhanced cellular networking capabilities, as well as a faster processor. Perhaps more noteworthy than these upgrades, though, was CEO Tim Cook’s announcement that Apple sold 15.5 million iPads in the past year — more than the number of PCs sold by any of Apple’s competitors. BS&T’s April digital issue breaks down what it takes to create a superior tablet banking experience and highlights some of the industry’s top iPad apps.

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• Mobile Remote Deposit Capture: Putting a Price on Convenience

Bank Systems & Technology

Banking customers increasingly see value in mobile remote deposit capture (RDC). In fact, in many cases, they would even change banks to get the service, according to the Mobile Financial Services Tracking Survey, a semiannual survey conducted by Boston-based consulting firm AlixPartners. At the end of 2011, 65 percent of the survey participants who indicated that they were “at least somewhat likely” to switch banks for mobile services said that the ability to deposit a check with their mobile devices would be the main reason for the switch — a 50 percent increase over the second-quarter 2011 survey results. Banks are scrambling to meet this rapidly growing customer demand for mobile RDC.

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• Mobile Bill Pay Gaining Global Traction

Bank Systems & Technology

A recent report from British research company Juniper Research has found that mobile bill payment is quickly gaining global acceptance and will continue to see significant growth. The report, titled “Mobile Banking for Developed and Developing Markets”, predicts that by 2016, more than 80 percent of mobile banking customers will pay their bills with their mobile device. It also says that users of transactional mobile banking services will grow to more than 550 million in 2016 from 185 million in 2011. The report indicates that mobile bill pay adoption rates are highest in customers who have access to “triple play” mobile banking solutions that include an SMS or text option, a mobile web browser and a downloadable application. In addition, it says that transaction frequency is highest in developing regions where users don’t have many other options for bill pay beyond using a mobile device.

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• Using PFM To Be PFI

Credit Union Journal

Texas-Big banks are playing the PFM game to steal business from CUs. The game goes something like this: the bank offers personal financial management (PFM) software to the customer, the customer tracks external accounts in the software, including CU accounts. Then, the bank peeks into the external account data in order to identify products and rates to beat. “Bank of America is sending your members referrals that say they can give a loan at a lesser rate,” suggested Kevin Scott, COO at $97-million Texoma CU here. “Your member is being actively marketed by other financial institutions from PFM info.”

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• Fraud Ring Busted in Washington State Using Tech Tools

Credit Union Times

Portland, Ore.-based online fraud detection company iovation helped police in Kirkland, Wash., bust up a fraud ring that involved thousands of dollars in fraudulent credit card charges, the company announced. Police used ReputationManager 360, iovation’s online fraud prevention solution, to identify and track the fraudulent charges that targeted at least 15 people, the company said. ReputationManager 360 tracks electronic devices including computers, tablets and cell phones and identifies fraudulent online activities by making associations between devices and individuals. “This is a unique case because it wasn’t exclusively an online or offline crime,” said Kirkland police Detective Adam Haas.

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• Digital Wallets – It could be an all or nothing argument for adoption

Core Banking Blog

On March 6, 2012 Apple was granted a new patent for a technology they are calling iWallet. Looking at the proposed functionality Apple has once again done what they do best; enter the market after the innovators (think GoogleWallet) with, in his opinion, a substantially better offering. Better in that it goes beyond simple payments to allow you to take control of your payment cards directly on your iPhone. Meaning you will be able to get statements, balances other information and transactions beyond simple point of sale transactions.

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Below are interesting stories the Banking.com staff has been reading over the past week. What have you been reading? Let us know in the comments section below or Tweet @bankingdotcom.

• SIM Card Tricksters Target Mobile Payments

American Banker

The criminal activity that targets mobile banking has not yet reached the levels of web banking, mostly because the volume of mobile banking to this point hasn’t made it as attractive a target. But as mobile banking grows, that’s starting to change — particularly since mobile banking is vulnerable to a wide variety of criminal threats. A new strain of crime that tricks users out of their subscriber identity module (SIM) cards has quickly emerged to threaten banks and other enablers of mobile payments such as telecoms. “This special attack involves stealing information to generate new SIM cards,” says Orem Kedem, a director at the security firm Trusteer, who described the threat in a recent interview.

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• Coming Soon: iPads ‘R’ Us

American Banker

Rapid change is the new normal when it comes to technology — and banking. Clunky old computers, even previously “sleek” laptops, are anachronisms now, as computer tablets soar in popularity. In fact, the next generation of consumers may forgo outdated tools like a computer mouse altogether — a move that could have critical implications for bankers, Brett King, the founder of the yet-to-be-launched mobile bank Movenbank Corp. Ltd., said this week. He gave a keynote address at the Best Practices in Retail Financial Services Symposium sponsored by American Banker and its publisher, SourceMedia Inc. To illustrate, King showed a YouTube clip of a baby playing: first with an iPad, then with a magazine.

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• The Secrets to Chase’s Mobile Success: Exclusive Q&A With SVP Ravi Acharya

BankTech.com

Ravi Acharya, ChaseMobile banking has exploded since it was first introduced. In less than 10 years, the channel has evolved from offering basic SMS alerts to providing the rich, fully functional banking experience available on tablets today (and back to text alerts again). JPMorgan Chase ($2.3 trillion in assets) has been at the front of the mobile space from the beginning. Bank Systems Technology associate editor Bryan Yurcan recently spoke with Ravi Acharya, SVP and head of product management for online, mobile and social at Chase, the New York-based company’s retail banking arm, about the evolution of the bank’s mobile offerings, lessons learned and what the future holds for the channel.

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• Bank for less

Boston Globe

There may be more fees on the way, but you don’t have to pay the price. People say they’re furious at behemoth banks, for myriad reasons: lending practices that helped sink the economy, government bailouts, foreclosures, huge bonuses for chief executives, and now higher fees and tougher account requirements. Here’s what industry analysts and Consumer Reports’ own recent review suggest you’ll find now and in the coming months: Fee increases and tougher account requirements will probably continue, especially while the economy remains weak. Customers with a lot of accounts at one bank might avoid some fees, but they’re not immune.

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• Study Offers Tips On Effective Social Media

Credit Union Journal

Regular online surveys to keep abreast of member sentiment should be a key part of a credit union’s social media programs, a new study by the Filene Research Institute suggests. The study’s authors recommend conducting periodic member surveys among other strategies included in the new study, “Measuring Social Media Success In Credit Unions.” “There continues to be a correlation between success and credit unions that conduct member surveys two to four times per year and have otherwise active marketing programs,” the authors state. Several key success drivers emerged and solidified during the yearlong study.

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• Confusion on Hot Topics Mobile, P2P and Social Pay

Credit Union Times

The research by Boston-based AlixPartners exploded on the screen at BAI Payments Connect 2012. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the availability of good mobile services has emerged as a top factor in why consumers choose to change financial institutions, reported Teresa Epperson, AlixPartners managing director. A stunned disbelief settled over the room. Few of the banking and credit union executives present had seen this coming. But, according to Epperson, the facts are the facts.

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• Fed: One-fifth of U.S. subscribers access mobile banking services

Fierce Mobile Content

The Federal Reserve Board is banking on mobile services to transform the American financial landscape. A new Fed survey issued Wednesday reports that one out of five U.S. subscribers used their mobile phone to access their bank account, credit card or other financial account in the 12-month period ending in January 2012, and an additional one out of five respondents said they would likely leverage mobile banking services at some point in the future. Even more impressive, the Fed speculates usage could increase to one out of three mobile phone owners by 2013. The survey reports consumers between 18 and 29 make up roughly 44 percent of mobile banking users, relative to 22 percent of all mobile phone users; at the other end of the spectrum, subscribers 60 and older–who represent 24 percent of the total U.S. mobile population–account for just 6 percent of all mobile banking users.

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• Future belongs to mobile banking: Federal Reserve

Banking Business Review

The US Federal Reserve in its Board Survey has found that one out of five US consumers used their mobile phone to access their bank account, credit card, or other financial account in the 12 months ending in January 2012, highlighting the future of mobile banking. In its study, the central banking system said that an additional one out of five indicated they would likely to use mobile banking at some point in the future. The study also highlights that mobile banking usage is expected to increase in the forthcoming years, as it said that one out of three mobile phone users will use mobile banking by 2013.

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Below are interesting stories the Banking.com staff has been reading over the past week. What have you been reading? Let us know in the comments section below or Tweet @bankingdotcom.

• Take Two on BB&T Deal for BankAtlantic

American Banker

BB&T Corp. has answered the question whether it still has a stomach for a deal with BankAtlantic Bancorp. Affirmative. BB&T on Tuesday said it will assume BankAtlantic’s obligations to holders of about $285 million of trust preferred securities. A judge had blocked the original deal on the grounds that it was unfair to those bond holders of BankAtlantic, which is based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. BB&T also would receive a 95% preferred interest in a newly established entity that will hold a $423 million pool of loans and $17 million of other assets. The pool of loans, which has an unpaid principal balance of approximately $500 million, represents a portion of the loans that BankAtlantic would have retained under the original agreement, BB&T says.

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• Strands Seeks to Stand Out in Crowded Financial Management Space

American Banker

To stay relevant in the hypercompetitive personal financial management space, tech companies like Strands Inc. are trying to distance themselves from the PFM standard of a one-size-fits-all approach to online budgeting. PFM tools, which allow users to track their cash flow visually through charts and calendars rather than just a plain ledger, were developed as a way to improve the appeal of account aggregation, which simply gathered transactions from multiple accounts on one screen. In recent years the PFM space has gotten very crowded, leading some players to hunt for underserved audiences. In the case of Strands, a PFM provider that counts Bank of Montreal, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. and ING Group NV among clients, “we find that some users have a gap between retail banking and online banking; and what they have in investments,” says Edward Chang, CEO of Strands, who discussed the company’s future plans in an interview with Bank Technology News.

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• Inside the mobile wallet: How does it work?

ABA Banking Journal

The number of people using mobile payments is on the rise, and this number will only grow over time as new technologies and advancements are introduced. Today’s consumers increasingly expect a shopping experience that seamlessly crosses online and offline channels. They use multiple channels and information sources to make buying decisions and expect an integrated experience that’s timely and consistent wherever they are and at any time—a concept First Data calls Universal Commerce. In addition to providing consumers with a new way to make payments, mobile devices represent a new channel for financial institutions to communicate with their customers.

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• The Free And Easy Way To Reward Debit + Online Banking Users

Financial Brand

How can financial institutions reward debit card users who use online channels — i.e., the best customers? Cardlytics has a solution which costs banks and credit unions absolutely nothing. Sound too good to be true? Here’s how it works. A typical consumer — we’ll call her Karen — stops into a home improvement store to pick up some items for her kitchen remodel job.

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• Amazon Apple Facebook Google-Which is Most Innovative?

Javelin Strategy & Research Blog

Apple is ranked the most innovative company, placing it ahead of Google, Facebook and Amazon, and many other brands in Javelin’s latest survey of over 5800 consumers. As laid out in our new report The Gang of Four (and Possibly Five) Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon – and PayPal: Positioning for Payments in the New Mobile-Social Technology Era, Apple iOS is engaged a fierce battle for dominance in the smartphone market with Google Android – as platforms which gain the greatest numbers of consumers tend to be the big winners in each new tech cycle. Ground-breaking products are one of the ways that Apple determines its edge, and the release of the new iPad tablet continues in that tradition.  Tim Cook laid out Apple’s Post-PC numbers: the firm sold 172 million iPod, iPhone and iPad devices last year.

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• Cashing in on payday loans

Los Angeles Times

Payday loans, for years a fixture in poor, working-class neighborhoods, are increasingly being offered by local banks and employee credit unions — triggering concerns by consumer groups that more Americans will be trapped in high-interest loans that could take years to pay off. More than two dozen regional and community banks now offer versions of these loans, most starting their programs since 2007. The biggest increase, however, has come at credit unions. Nearly 400 of them now are in the market, attracted by a 2010 change in regulations that boosted the maximum interest rate on payday loans to 28% from 18%. But many people can’t repay the loans when they come due.

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• Many consumers not ready to adopt mobile banking, says survey

Mobile Payments Today

Growth in mobile banking and payments is being driven by younger consumers, but most adults are more reluctant to adopt mobile banking, said a survey cited at cuna.org. In an online survey of 504 U.S. debit cardholders conducted in January, Auriemma Consulting found that younger consumers are more likely to download a mobile-banking app — 43 percent of respondents under 45 had downloaded a mobile app from their financial institution within the previous year, while only about 22 percent of those over 45 had done so. Of 40 percent of respondents with mobile-banking capabilities, about 75 percent used their smartphone to check their account balance, 36 percent paid a bill, 32 percent received a bank notification, 31 percent paid by phone and also made a deposit, and 3 percent transferred funds. Some 17 percent of respondents said they made no mobile payments.

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• How mobile payments might drive health behavior change

Mobile Health News

So long, wallet? That’s right, this summer may be remembered as the beginning of the era of mobile payments, services that let consumers pay for things in-person through their smartphone rather than with cash or a credit card. Isis, a joint venture between AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile USA, is the mobile operators’ answer to Google Wallet, a similar service launched by Google last year. Google Wallet currently counts more than 25 big brand chains as partners: Gap, Macy’s, Toys R Us, Office Max, RadioShack, Sports Authority, Foot Locker, among them. More relevant for this publication’s readers, however, are the restaurants, coffeeshops, and convenience stores that have signed up. Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Jamba Juice, Jack In the Box, Einstein Bros.

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• Trusteer: SIM Card Fraud Schemes Target Online Banking

PC Mag

Many banks use OTP (one-time password) systems to validate online transactions. After a user logs in with a standard password, the site texts a one-time password to the phone that’s registered for the account. The user can’t complete the transaction without entering the OTP. This two-factor authentication, more secure than simple password protection, may be required for larger transfers. That makes it a target for fraudsters, and they keep finding new ways to subvert the system.

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