Mobey Forum contacted me today to let me know that it has just released a whitepaper for banks interested in delivering secure mobile payments to mobile subscribers. 

Mobey Forum is a not-for-profit organization that brings together players in the mobile financial services ecosystem to establish and promote open and secure mobile financial technologystandards.

The whitepaper, “Alternatives for Banks to offer Secure MobilePayments”, explores the role that Secure Elements (SE) within mobile devices can play to secure mobile payments for banks. I have only had a chance to read the first few pages, but overall, it looks like a great primer for those working in the mobile financial services space interested in security and mobile payments.

Here is the link to the whitepaper:  http://www.mobeyforum.org/?page=white-paper-alternatives-for-banks.

Here is the whitepaper’s executive summary:

Security is one of the fundamental elements of any payment solution. Financial Institutions increasingly seek to mitigate the risk of fraud in order to protect their customers and hence their own payment franchise. Enhanced security on plastic cards requires a so-called "Secure Element (SE)" - like a chip card - to store the bank's payment credentials (security keys) and other critical data. One example is the introduction of “Chip

I had the pleasure to work from home today.  I don’t know about you, but working from home is such a treat, particularly after a long week of work and travel.  While working away today, the doorbell rang and there was a delivery from a courier.  We rarely get packages via courier at home, so I was excited to open the package. And what was in the package?  Well, it was something very interesting indeed.  It was from Zoompass, Canada’s first Mobile Money Transfer service and it was their Mobile Payment Contactless Sticker.  In case you missed it this week, Zoompass announced that it had launched a Mobile Payments Trial in Canada.  For the official announcement from the company, click here. The sticker that Zoompass sent me is called a “Zoompass Tag” and is an NFC chip that is associated to my Zoompass mobile wallet account.   Once I attach the tag to my phone, I will be able pay for purchases by swiping my phone at enabled point of sale contactless readers at merchants in Canada.  Once the payment is purchased, my stored value account held with Zoompass will be debited and the transaction will be registered against the Zoompass mobile app

The good people at CGAP have shared a great report on the emerging and needed field of Government-to-Person (Payments).  The report is extensive and shares much light on the benefit that up to 170 million people worldwide would receive from governments employing electronic channels, including mobile solutions, to distribute social transfers and payments to current and retired workers.

This report a must read for all those working in the mobile and value transfer field as its comprehensive, thoroughly researched, and best of all, it's free.  You can thank Jim Rosenberg from CGAP's Technology Blog for sharing the report.

When you have a moment, take a read through it.  You can access it at here:

http://www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.9.41174/ 

Also, if you are working in the G2P or Mico-Finance field, Mobile-Financial.com would love to hear from you and share your insights with the community.  Please contact me at brent@mobile-financial.com to chat.

Cheers,

Brent 

We are counting down the days for the world’s largest mobile money conference. The 2010 Mobile World Congress will be held 15-18 February, in Barcelona Spain. Mobile leaders will gather, collaborate, and discuss the cutting-edge products and technology that will define the mobile future... Haiti mobile donations continue to pour in, creating a foundation for future humanitarian efforts...  If you are into technology, then you must have heard about the launch of the Apple iPad. Where will it play a role in mobile commerce?

 

E-commerce relevance of Apple iPad has yet to be realized
January 29, 2010, 1:35 pm What will the iPad mean to e-commerce? The new iPad has a possibility of being widely accepted as a dominant player in the mobile payment market. People are more and more comfortable with online banking, and the move to mobile banking is definitely intensifying. The iPad may be a perfect alternative to banking on a smartphone due to the fact that the screen is much larger.  

 

Jumptap Unveils First Mobile Advertising Solution for Apple's Tablet
January 27, 2010, 11:40 pm CAMBRIDGE, MA--(January 27, 2010) - Jumptap, the leading mobile advertising solutions provider, today announced the industry's first integrated mobile advertising

 

In case you have not heard the news as yet, I thought thatyou may be interested in announcement just released by a leading bank inCanada, Scotiabank. Scotiabank will be launching mobile banking with a solutionfrom M-Com in the spring. The Scotiabank group has close to 69,000 employeesand with its affiliates serves approximately 12.8 million customers in some 50countries aroundthe world.

The details are below.

Does anyone mind sharing their opinion on what this means tothe Canadian mobile banking landscape?

 

Toronto, Canada

24 November 2009

Scotiabank today announced a new partnership with M-Com, aninternational mobile banking and payments solution provider, that will bringmobile banking to Scotiabank customers in the spring of 2010.

"With over 22 million cell phone subscribers in Canada,wireless phones are among the fastest growing consumer products inhistory," said Mike Henry, Senior Vice President, Sales & Service,Scotiabank. "Canadians rely on the convenience of mobile devices to helpthem manage their busy lifestyles, and having the ability to do their bankingfrom their mobile devices would simplify their lives that much more."

 

"The launch of mobile banking for Scotiabank customersnext spring further demonstrates our commitment to offering innovative,convenient and secure banking solutions for our customers" continued Mr.Henry.

Dear Mobile Money Canada Attendees,

Thank you for participating in the first Mobile Money CanadaConference. Your involvement has enriched the overall experience of allof us within the Canadian mobile financial services industry and Iappreciate that you were able to take time out of your schedule toattend and contribute.

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting with and learning from many ofyou at the conference and I look forward to continuing the dialoguewith you as our industry evolves in Canada. I was also thrilled to hearabout many of the innovative mobile money initiatives that many of youare currently working on…Keep up the great work!

Just to let you know, we have had several requests for thepresentation slides used by our incredible speakers and panelists. Wewill be posting those online in the coming days and I will let you knowas soon as they are ready. We will also be sharing the video footage ofthe day’s sessions online, so please stay tuned for that.

I would also like to take a moment to thank each of you forsharing your invaluable feedback about the conference within thesurveys, as well as in our follow up conversations that we

Hello Canada,
The Mobile Money Canada conference is almost here.  With just under one week to go, the schedule is set, the event is at capacity, and we are just making final preparations to ensure that all participants have a great experience.
I want to personally thank all of those instrumental in making the first Mobile Money Canada Conference a reality.  We now have speakers and delegates from over 60 companies that are active in Canada; including banks, mobile operators, remittance providers, mobile financial solution providers, venture capitalists, and many more.  With representatives from all across the industry, we are in for a great day of mobile money discussions and networking.
I do apologize to those that we were not able to accept for the event – the interest was greater than we had anticipated.  We’ll make sure though to publish a full report post conference through our Mobile Money Canada group on LinkedIn.     To join our Mobile Money Group, please register at: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2255632&trk=hb_side_g.   
Thanks again for your support of Mobile Money Canada.   I’m looking forward to a full day of learning, re-connecting with colleagues, and developing new relationships with those active and interested in the growth of

A recent article from the Toronto Star describes the many challenges that low income Canadians experience with credit cards. The article is written by Rita Trichur and can be accessed at: http://www.thestar.com/business/article/717130--credit-cards-still-bey
ond-reach?bn=1

The article suggests that although credit cards are the “preferred mode of payment” in Canada, there are many consumers that are not able to obtain card products. Without credit cards, lower income and individuals without credit histories, are not able to access the basic goods and services that many Canadians take for granted (i.e. buying mobile content, renting cars, proving identification etc.).

The article also provides an overview of the results of a study on lack of access to plastic money by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre “PIAC”. The study states that “Ottawa and card issuers collaborate on creating a new financial product that could serve as a financial credential and be also used as the key component of a payment system that can be recognized by issuers' networks and databases.”

As soon as I read that, I thought to myself that many of our experts from the mobile financial community would have more than a few ideas about what that new financial product could be for Canada.

Hello Canada,

Are you ready???  We have exactly two weeks to go until Mobile Money Canada and I cannot wait to meet each of you that were able to register to attend the event.  We have executives from all across the Mobile Money ecosystem coming in from all across North America to discuss, debate, and develop relationships that will help to foster the growth of this industry in Canada.

I have some great news to share as well.  I was able to confirm today that Robin Dua will be conducting the Mobile Money Canada Keynote presentation, “Why Will Mobile Financial Services Matter to Canadians?” For those of you who do not Robin, he is the President of EnStream LP, a mobile commerce joint venture company owned by Canada’s big three mobile operators (Bell, Rogers, & Telus). 

Robin was also instrumental in rolling out Canada’s first person to person mobile money transfer and payment service, Zoompass.   Robin is a dynamic speaker, mobile money visionary, with deep experience within the mobile, payments, and internet industries and we are extremely fortunate to have him take time out to share his perspectives on why and what mobile financial services are important to Canadians.

I'm sure that this keynote will be like nothing Canada has seen

Hello Mobile-Financial Folks,

Have you heard the news yet?  Safaricom’s M-PESA is going international.   M-PESA, with close to 8 million subscribers, will soon allow customers across the UK to send money directly to the mobile wallets of M-PESA subscribers in Kenya.   The service is being launched after a successful pilot that occurred at select Western Union, Provident Capital Transfers, and KenTV outlets in the UK during the past 3 months.  

This is a significant development for the mobile financial services industry, as it represents the evolution of mobile money transfers, from domestic services to cross border mobile driven solutions.   If Safaricom’s UK to Kenya money transfer corridor is successful, it can be safely assumed that Safaricom will expand its international footprint to other send markets around the world.  In addition, we can expect that other mobile money services from Safaricom's competitors will follow up with cross border offerings of their own.  For more details on this announcement, please click here for the announcement from Safaricom. 

If you are interested in learning more about this service and are based in Canada, make sure to attend Mobile Money Canada on November 10 2009.  The head of Western Union’s mobile channel, Matt Dill, will