Barclays adds enhancements to its mobile banking service

To celebrate the first anniversary of Barclays.mobi service, Barclays provides a series of further enhancements to its UKs mobile phone banking service. The service is said to attract more than four million hits a month.

The updated service now includes:

• Currency conversion calculator as the summer holiday season kicks off
• 'At a glance' balance screen has been updated for easier customer views
• Introduced 'tappable' bars to support finger friendly principles for mobile phones
• Bookmarks feature - customers can save the mobi link to support access and navigation; IPhone users can also save the link as a Barclays icon 'lozenge'
• Introduced a mobile business site specifically for business customers.

Sean Gilchrist, Barclays Digital Banking Director, said: "In just over a year we have grown the service from nothing to over 4 million hits a month which is just phenomenal. The feedback from our customers is very much around 'snack banking' on the move, it's clear they want to see their balance, recent transactions and make payments whilst out and about. We believe the interest in banking through mobile hand-sets is market-driven and the iPhone has been a catalyst for it, as people use their phone to do more things. In addition we're also seeing an increase in terms of bandwidth that the phone can operate at and availability of Wi-Fi hotspots, so all in all people are getting a much better experience and prepared to use their phones to do more."

These latest enhancements build on a year of several key developments to the Barclays.mobi service which give customers a web application service operating on all of the main mobile platforms. Customers including those with Apple, HTC, Nokia, Motorolla, Blackberry etc mobiles have a user friendly mobile experience with access to the full range of services without having to scroll around.

The full range of services on offer includes:

• Balances
• Mini-statements
• Transfers between Barclays accounts
• Third party payments 
• Branch and ATM locator' using maps that specifically fit mobile handsets
• Mobile frequently asked questions and answers
• Currency conversion tool
• Free mobile security software from Kaspesky
• 'Layar' collarboration with Barclaycard which allows customers using iPhone or Android (but also comes pre-installed on the Samsung Galaxy S) to use a touch-screen device to find the nearest Barclays ATM, shop that accepts contactless - it integrates with google maps to help you find out just how to get there.

Barclays also offer a text banking service where customers can register to receive weekly balance, mini-statement, limit and transaction alerts for a small monthly fee of £2.