Earlier this month U.K. mobile banking provider Monilink announced that it had enhanced its banking, payments, and money transfer service to accommodate the most leading edge phones and touch screen handsets such as the iPhone and BlackBerry units and to support any future adoption, via phone enhancements, of near field communications. NFC is a short-range, high-frequency wireless emission technology embedded in smart phones, which supports data exchange.

 

A joint venture of ATM and network provider, Vocalink, and payments vendor, Monitise, Monilink was launched in 2006, and is currently reaching a million users through private-label arrangements with banks. (In the U.S., Monitise is partnering with Metavante.) These include customers of Alliance & Leicester, first direct, and HSBC—all U.K. banks. Monilink's mobile banking capabilities have also been adopted by Lloyds TSB, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Ulster Bank.

 

In a chat with ABABJ, London-based Monilink spokesperson Phil Drew, said that the idea was to stay current with phone enhancements and leverage their expanding capabilities. For instance, as the "wave and pay" scenarios popular in markets like Japan get more prevalent in the U.K., consumers there will benefit from the improvements Monilink has made now.

 

"Nearly every mobile service provider will say they support NFC, but that's just a software upgrade at this point. Moreover, NFC phones are a small minority and not yet a market force in Western markets," said Nick Holland, senior analyst security and mobile payments at Boston-based Aite.

Holland was familiar with the announcement, but waiting to get a briefing on details from the firm, as was this reporter.

 

"Still, Monilink does indicate, as part of the announcement, that they will be supporting NFC payment and services like bill settlement in upcoming months, so we'll have to keep an eye on them and see," Holland added. The analyst also explains that the U.K.'s smaller, more consolidated banking market, and the overall higher profile of the vendor in that market, explained some of the traction the service had enjoyed.

 

Another payments expert, Richard Crone, who runs his own consultancy in San Carlos, Calif., agrees that Near Field expansion will take time, especially in the fragmented U.S. "Right now, there is considerable debate about how best to engineer this capability into mobile units. Some companies, for instance, First Data, is proposing that the Near Field antennae be designed right into a sticker, which would be placed on the back of the phone—this would simplify deployment," he explains.

 

"Provisioning Near Field capability within the phone is difficult. Some are considering placing the antennae around the SIM card, for example." But the broader point is that, figuring out the engineering real estate will take time. "The U.S. will lag behind Asian and European markets." In that sense, he says, a firm like Monilink is one to watch given its work in the U.K.."

 

Moving forward

Meanwhile, Monilink is motoring along. "It's available on all major mobile networks and from almost any mobile phone-from the most basic GSM [global system for mobile communication] unit, to the newest BlackBerry handset," Drew explains. "Using the Monilink service, customers can check their accounts, make payments and transfer money between their accounts." While doing its part to expand Monilink's popularity with behind-the-scenes efforts, Monilink has mostly relied on its banking clients and mobile operators to get the private-labeled service usage up. This year, the vendor has also been in deep research mode, chatting with customers, banks, and operators in order to figure out what "killer service" might be not only useful, but spur adoption, according to Drew.

 

He explains that daily text alerts regarding balances blended with the previous day's transactions has been a big hit. Customers also like intra-account fund transfer.

 

In a news release announcing the support of smart phones, John Milliken, managing director of Monilink was quoted as saying: "The thing that has made consumers really get behind our service is that it is always bank branded, supported by the mobile operators, and regularly security tested. We've also made a point of listening to our customers."

 

He said customer feedback had instigated the introduction of intra-account transfer and international money mover services over recent months. "I look forward to continuing this trend with the announcement of our new payment services, including some of those that our customers have requested."  

 

Milliken also acknowledged the key role played by the banks in gaining adoption momentum. "Consumers we talk to are still reluctant to give secure information to brands they haven't heard of before," Milliken said. "In the U.K. the successful mobile money services are all presented to the consumer by the banks themselves which I believe is the crucial difference between the mass-market services here and some of those offered in some other places in the world." BJ

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