Tag: mobile banking app

The financial institution intends to release the first 3D banking app in the world this September.

The new smartphone app uses augmented reality technology to assist customers in locating the closest branch or ATM, shows transactions, account balances, and spending locations, all of which is displayed in three dimensions, and Westpac New Zealand (NZ) hopes that the app will help customers gain better control over their credit card spending.

The app was the concept that took the top spot in The Westpac Global App Challenge in the UK.

The application utilizes the smartphone camera, which scans a consumer’s debit or credit card. After scanning, it instantly generates a 3D visual representation that is equipped with bar charts to show the user the amount of money that was spent in different categories, for instance, utilities, food, travel, etc. It also sums up loyalty points, allows the customer to make on the spot payments and flags the number of days that are left before a bill is due.

The unnamed rocket scientist, who developed the application, has a side business of building apps. Simon Pomeroy, the chief digital officer at Westpac NZ, said of the challenge winner that “His job is in innovation. He spends his time thinking about apps and saw the ability to create one he’d use himself. He was just really blown away by the fact that he could enter something online and have it taken to this level.”

Augmented reality technology takes mobile banking to another level.

Pomeroy said that after seeing the concept for the app, it became clear the impact AR tech can have in terms of “adding a new dimension to mobile banking.” He also noted that one of the important features of the app is its ability to find ATMs that were part of the ATM Global Alliance around the globe that could be used by Westpac customers free of charge.

Pomeroy stated that Westpac customers are constantly asking the company for quicker and more convenient ways to conduct their banking. What Westpac feels the app will accomplish is it can bring everyday banking to life in a visually appealing way that is easy to use. It will take daily banking to a whole new level.

The new augmented reality app will be released for iOS in September. Westpac said that there will also be an app released for Android mobile devices, which will come out later this year.

The Reserve Bank of India has released a report that indicated that they had expected faster uptake.

According to the most recent Financial Stability Report from the Reserve Bank of India, the uptake of Indian mobile payments and banking has been promising, and yet considerably slower than had been expected over the span of the last three years.

The only banks in the country that can offer services over smartphones and tablets are those that are licensed.

According to the Central Bank in the country, in order to be able to offer Indian mobile paymentshttp://www.mobilecommercepress.com/mobile-banking-rise-australia/853413/, the institutions that wish to provide them to consumers must not only have a license from the Reserve Bank of India, but it must also be supervised by that agency. At the time of the report, there were 78 banks – including a number of them that are regional rural banks, as well as urban co-ops – that had been given the necessary permissions for offering these services.

Many are continuing to see a massive amount of potential from Indian mobile payments.

The Financial Stability Report claimed that using smartphones and tablets for banking offers people in India the greatest opportunity for financial inclusion that has ever been available. The report explained that “Helped by the rapid spread of use of mobile telephony, the growth in mobile banking has been encouraging over last three years.”

That said, it also pointed out that the growth and the overall acceptance of using these smartphone based services as a “channel for accessing banking services” has been much lower than had been anticipated.

Aside from the low awareness and adoption levels, there are also challenges in the industry regarding more rapid growth include the fact that banks aren’t capable of connecting bank account numbers with cell phone numbers, and there is a lack of compatibility between the apps and the devices that people are actually using in the country. There is also a lack of partnerships and models for sharing revenue between network operators and the banks, themselves.

Finally, Indian mobile payments have also been held back by the challenges in obtaining a USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) channel that is in operation for the purpose.