Finance and Risk Converge In Creating the 'Everyday Bank'

From Forbes –

“Financial services institutions, notably banking, capital markets and insurance firms, are rapidly evolving in response to the explosive growth in digital technologies – particularly those related to analytics, cloud computing, social media and mobility. These innovations can help firms establish a more strategic market position, one that responds to customers’ expectations for online, always-available products and services.”

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Citi Futurist Envisions the Part Wearables Will Play in Banking

From American Banker –

“You could forgive Andres Wolberg-Stok for sounding a bit gleeful about his new role at Citigroup.

In a newly created position, the 14-year company veteran is setting the bank's strategy for mobile devices, wearable devices, and the Internet of things. He's integrating voice and facial recognition, wallets and digital payments into Citi's consumer platforms. And perhaps most importantly, Wolberg-Stok is overseeing a wholesale shift to an application programming interface model for all Citi consumer channels. This change will let software developers quickly create new apps for the bank.”

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Employee attitudes to wi-fi security put businesses at risk

From Continuity Central

“UK employees are potentially putting their companies at risk of cyber-attack when using mobile devices for work purposes while on holiday or on a short break, new research has found.

The ‘Beach to Breach’ research commissioned by Sourcefire, now part of Cisco, found that 77 percent of UK workers surveyed usually take their work devices with them on holiday, with 72 percent choosing to spend up to one or two hours per day keeping up with what’s going on in the office. Over 80 percent of directors, mid-managers and senior level employees admitted to taking their work device on holiday, and even the most junior employees are also keen to stay connected while away with 50 percent unwilling to leave their work device at home.”

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The lighter side of smartphones

Why Mobile Payments Have Yet to Take Off

From American Banker

“Mobile payments is a topic that always appears fresh, yet is somehow perennially disappointing to industry watchers, enthusiasts and prognosticators.

Every January brings the question: "Is this finally the year of mobile payments?" But in reality, the payment ecosystem is complex enough — from both a technology and a cultural perspective — that mobile payments will be an incremental revolution, not the sudden Facebook-style tidal wave of adoption we seem to be anticipating.”

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The drive to digital banking

From Finextra

Brett King, CEO and Founder of Moven, explains the personnel shift required to drive a bank's digital strategy and the importance of mobile.

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Prevent BYOD from becoming Bring Your Own Disease

From Tech Republic

“With BYOD initiatives seeing exponential growth, security has become an utmost concern for network managers dealing with mobile users.

Everybody likes "free." But that likeability takes a hard hit when "free" is combined with "network security", particularly when BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) issues are involved.

In the past, network managers had the luxury of dictating what security software was used across the enterprise, with expansive management suites enforcing the use of anti-malware technologies across both servers and workstations. Fast forward to the present day and network administrators have usurped most of their control over endpoints, simply because enterprises own fewer endpoints and are embracing BYOD ideologies to lower costs.”

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Phablets are not a phad

From Deloitte CIO Journal

Two thirds of phablets in 2014 will be less than 5.1 inches, only just meeting the definition, and less than 10 percent are likely to be 6 inches or larger. About 25 percent of 2013 phablet sales were new versions of existing devices that enlarged the screen and shrank the bezel, rather than actually making the phone larger. Phablets tend to be more popular in Asia than in North America and EMEA -- perhaps due to languages based on complex symbols that benefit from larger screens, or due to greater interest in phones that are good for gaming or can replace multiple devices such as PCs and tablets.

The tablet market stratifies

From Deloitte CIO Journal

In the first quarter of 2014, the installed base of compact tablets (with screens smaller than 9 inches) will likely surpass the base of classic tablets (9 inches and larger). Smaller devices are more likely to be carried around; the classic tablet, while perfectly portable within homes, is taken outdoors less frequently. Also, smaller tablets might be better for games that use motion sensors, as well as for e-mail (adding less weight to an already congested briefcase).

Raincoats, taxis and the future of banking

From Banking Technology

“What do taxis, the weather, mobile wallets and raincoats have in common? They are all potential variables in determining a person’s daily spend – and they provide a great opportunity for banks to use data to save customers money, according to Aman Narain, global head of digital banking Singapore at Standard Chartered.

Narain is an enthusiastic early-adopter of every mobile financial technology under the sun. Having joined the bank in 1999, he has worked in investor relations, strategy, corporate development and technology and operations, and has a keen eye for some of the latest trends – including wearable technologies and the ‘internet of things’. However, he is also a vocal critic of many of the solutions out there today.”

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Point Your iPhone at Something You Like, and Amazon’s New App Buys It

From Wired

“Amazon just keeps making it easier for you to buy everything on the web. If the company continues to have its way, you’ll never need to go to the store again.

Today, Amazon is announcing a new feature inside its mobile shopping app that lets you scan items in your home using your smartphone’s camera and quickly order all of your packaged goods online. The new feature, called Flow, will be available inside Amazon’s shopping app for iOS. It’s iPhone-only for now, and the company isn’t saying when it will arrive on other smartphone platforms, or on the Kindle Fire.”

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Meet 'Good,' the new BlackBerry killer on Wall Street

Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley executives met for a regularly scheduled meeting that broached a controversial topic: Whether the bank should ditch its old BlackBerry devices in favor of new-issue Apple and Android devices.

The bank decided migrating the entire workforce off of BlackBerry—and onto new phones— would be too expensive, people briefed on the meeting said, so instead they agreed to install a friendlier "BYOD"—or "Bring Your Own Device" policy.

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Financial Institution BB&T turns to gamification for staff leadership training

US financial institution BB&T has developed a mobile gaming app designed to teach players valuable leadership skills.

The free game, developed for BB&T by Austin, Texas-based Chaotic Moon, catapults the player into the journey of a fledgling settler who aspires to become the new ruler of a Gothic-themed medieval province.

With help from the king, players can rise to a position of leadership and influence, depending on the choices they make and interactions with other game characters. The game includes 25 main story quests with 10 mini-games.

"We believe leadership is a learned skill, and that's why everyone can become a good leader," says BB&T Chairman and CEO Kelly King. "We hope this game can help unlock the next generation of leaders and make a positive, meaningful difference in the lives of as many people as possible."

The bank intends to use the game as part of its employee training programme. It is also available to third party participants via Apple's iTunes App Store and Google Play

Predictions 2013 Smartphone use

From Deloitte CIO Journal 

“In 2013, Deloitte predicts that global shipments of smartphones, defined as any device with a full touch screen or a QWERTY keyboard, should exceed one billion units for the first time. The installed base of all smartphones, per this definition, is likely to be close to two billion devices by year-end. As the base grows, usage is likely to stratify further. The absolute number of those exploiting the full breadth of a smartphone's capability is likely to increase, but the proportion and absolute number of those using only the basic functionality of a smartphone - voice, text and photos - is also likely to rise.”

How Mobile Changes What We Do Every Hour Of Every Day

From PTMNTS.com

“I’ll bet you didn’t know that each year for the last 10, the U.S. government has been collecting data on how Americans spend their time each day. That agency isn’t the NSA (shame on all you cynics out there) but the Bureau of Labor Statistics through something they call the American Time Use Survey. Over 136,000 interviews have been done over the last decade to systematically and statistically estimate “how, where, and with whom” Americans spend their time across a broad spectrum of activities.”

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Forget Standardization - Embrace BYOD

From Dark Reading

"The platform standardization ship has sailed, but mobile device management is your ticket to securing all of those handhelds

Despite its rocky start, Windows 8 has IT departments salivating over the idea of standardizing on a single platform. It's a compelling vision: phones, tablets, and workstations all running a single OS and managed through a shared set of native Microsoft tools. Compelling, perhaps, but for most organizations, it ain't gonna happen."

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Does JPMorgan Plus Apple Equal a Mobile-Banking Home Run?

“Banking is going mobile. The largest U.S. banks have been fairly quick to adopt the new technology and are reaping the benefits as millions of users flock to mobile interfaces.

JPMorgan Chase sports one of the best-received mobile banking platforms. Despite being a relatively small portion of the bank's overall operation, its ability to innovate new mobile products and efficiently serve more customers is good news for investors.

In this video, Motley Fool banking analysts Matt Koppenheffer and David Hanson tell investors why this recent trend benefits JPMorgan, as well as tech giant Apple”

Android's Mobile Dominance Fails to Simplify Bank App Development

“Google's Android mobile operating system has grown its market share lead, according to new data from Gartner. Indeed, the research firm says the platform accounts for 74.4% of smartphone units sold worldwide during the first quarter of 2013. Furthermore, Gartner found there are almost 50% more Android smartphones in the market than a year ago.”

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The M-Pesa Story

The world's most notable mobile banking system is M-Pesa, which was launched in Kenya in 2007. The following animated video, narrated by Michael Joseph the managing director of mobile money at Vodafone and the program's founder  walks viewers through the development and success of M-Pesa.

2013 Tech Trends CIO as the Postdigital Catalyst

From "Deloitte CIO Journal"

Five macro forces - analytics, mobile, social, cloud and cyber - are hard at work enabling and disrupting organizations of many shapes and sizes. The Postdigital Enterprise provokes and harvests these disruptions by changing operating models, capabilities and perhaps even business models. Industrialization wasn't complete when we entered the post-industrial era; it had simply become the new basis for competition. The same holds true for these digital forces in the Postdigital era.

CIOs are in a unique position to be the harbingers of change. To serve as catalysts across the executive suite, helping others understand the boundaries of the possible. To force thinking beyond veneering existing solutions and processes. To stand accountable for realizing transformation.

What's at stake may very well be the future of the business. Tomorrow's leading CIOs are likely to be those who rise to the challenge, perhaps reframed as the Chief Digital Officer, forging new identities as a postdigital catalyst -- an agent to provoke or speed the move to the Postdigital era.