FOR Marketing Perspective - Mobile Banking -- May 4<\/p>\n
M-banking to go beyond balance check<\/p>\n
Rudijanto
\nContributor
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Using a credit card when you are shopping is very common
\ntoday, but what if the transaction was conducted by merely
\nclicking some buttons on your cellular phone, showing the phone's
\nscreen to the cashier who immediately approved the transaction
\nupon seeing the screen?<\/p>\n
That idea still sounds far off, particularly for banking or IT
\nlaypeople, but Bank Danamon cash management consumer head Edy
\nTuhirman entertains the idea when asked about possible future
\nfeatures of mobile banking.<\/p>\n
Whether such an idea will be applicable or not in the near
\nfuture, at the least it shows the power of newly adopted banking
\nservices called mobile banking. With this powerful banking
\nsystem, customers can break the barriers of time and space.<\/p>\n
Mobile banking is certainly still a new service by major banks
\noperating in Indonesia. Banks such as Bank Danamon and Citibank
\njust began offering mobile banking last year. Other banks are
\nstill preparing to launch their mobile banking services.<\/p>\n
Citibank's mobile banking still does not offer transaction
\nservices due to the highly risky nature of mobile banking.
\nStarted in July last year, the bank's mobile banking only
\nprovides three features, namely payment of cellular vouchers,
\nSMS credit card inquiries about one's balance and an alert
\nservice to warn customers about certain transactions.<\/p>\n
"We have not provided transaction services via our mobile
\nbanking because we want the transactions to be really secure. We
\nare working on it and, hopefully, within this year we can provide
\nsuch services," Citibank's vice president of e-Business, Rico
\nUsthavia Frans, said.<\/p>\n
Rico believes the current mobile banking system using ordinary
\nSMS is not secure enough for banking transactions. The reason is
\nthat data passed through normal SMS is not encrypted. That is why
\nCitibank is preparing another system.<\/p>\n
"We will use the SIM Tool Kit (STK), which is a menu-based
\nsystem. With such a menu-based system, customers can easily
\nremember rather than input data by themselves. One more thing,
\nthis menu-based mobile banking is secure," Rico said.<\/p>\n
The bank expects to be able to provide transaction features
\nusing STIK by the end of this year.<\/p>\n
Just like Citibank, the only major transaction available
\nthrough mobile banking at Bank Danamon is that of cellular
\nvouchers. Other features of the bank's mobile banking are account
\nbalance inquiries and fund transfers to other Bank Danamon
\naccounts.<\/p>\n
Customer response to mobile banking is growing gradually
\nthough not drastically. This gradual growth is understandable
\nsince people need time to learn and accept any new facilities.
\nThe ATM took years before gaining wide public acceptance.<\/p>\n
But seeing the growth in the number of cellular phone users,
\nbanks simply cannot avoid the potential of this particular
\nsector. Data from the Indonesia Cellular Telecommunications
\nAssociation reveals that the number of cellular phone users
\nreached 18.5 million in 2003. The association predicts this
\nnumber could increase to 25 million or 27 million within this
\nyear.<\/p>\n
Such rapid growth is very promising. That is why in an
\ninterview early this year, the consumer banking general manager
\nat Bank Central Asia, Stephen Liestyo, said the bank expected its
\nmobile banking M-BCA to grow by 50 percent this year.<\/p>\n
BCA was among the first banks in the country to provide mobile
\nbanking services. Starting with only 304,719 users in 2001, the
\nbank's mobile banking users leapt to more than 2.2 million in
\n2002. By the end of last year, that number had increased
\nsignificantly to 3.6 million.<\/p>\n
The bank's mobile banking features already exceed that of
\naccount balance checks and payment of cellular phone vouchers.
\nFor instance, with ProXl, as one of the bank's cellular operator
\npartners, BCA offers M-Commerce, which enables customers to buy
\nstocks.<\/p>\n
The bank's M-Payment also enables customers to make many other
\nkinds of payments such as credit card, home phone and insurance.
\nThese varied features have played an important role in bringing
\nm-BCA monthly's transaction value to Rp 272.58 million last year.<\/p>\n
The promise of mobile banking is too attractive for Bank
\nRakyat Indonesia (BRI). In preparation for Internet and mobile
\nbanking services, the bank is not hesitant about investing in new
\nequipment to support the introduction of online and mobile
\nbanking facilities. Last month the bank announced the purchase of
\n4,670 PCs using Pentium 4 with hyper-threading technology.<\/p>\n
BRI's general manager for information system technology,
\nMohammad Irfan, said the new equipment would support, among other
\nthings, the introduction and operation of the bank's online and
\nmobile banking.<\/p>\n
"We will launch our mobile banking within the year. As of
\nright now, we are still preparing it with one telecommunications
\noperator. Our mobile banking will offer services such as balance
\nchecks, electronic fund transfers to other BRI branches, bill
\npayment and cellular voucher purchases, airline ticket purchases
\nand also notification services, for instance on the maturity of
\ncredit," said Abing Rabini, BRI's deputy to the general manager
\nfor information system technology.<\/p>\n
"I believe that mobile banking will grow faster than Internet
\nbanking because Internet banking is more expensive. People have
\nto own PCs and have to pay ISP to be able to access the Internet,
\nwhile for mobile banking all they need is a cellular phone,"
\nRabini said.<\/p>",
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