Mobile Banking is Coming to Community Banks

Mobile banking is now coming to the little guy, thanks to Texas-based mobile platform provider Unwired Nation. The company has announced Unwired Banking, a new mobile banking platform available to community-focused banking institutions.

The new platform supports Apple iOS and Google Android operating systems, allows for remote deposit capture, and uses Intuit software to retrieve account information in real time. The idea is to bring advanced, easy-to-use mobile banking services to smaller institutions, and in a press release the company quoted a VP of just such a bank as being fully onboard: “Our customers will be able to download our app directly from the app store by searching for our bank,” said Joel Rosenberg of Valley Bank of Kalispell, Montana. “Other so-called ‘affordable’ solutions like Touch Banking require multiple steps to set up and download the application per customer. We felt that our customers deserved better.”

As with any other mobile banking provider worth its salt, Unwired puts an emphasis on security, boasting that its platform “meets and exceeds FFIEC guidelines for security,” noting that it currently offers two-factor security, and plans to incorporate “cross-platform mobile biometric security” very soon. This last effort will grow increasingly important as the mass market adjusts to the biometric security in place on their smartphones; Apple is already including its fingerprint-scanning Touch ID system in its latest and forthcoming mobile devices, and smaller smartphone companies are jumping on the biometric bandwagon too. Moreover, the rise of mobile commerce and its concomitant increase in mobile fraud will essentially demand that biometric security measures be in place on all financial mobile applications.