NEEDHAM, Mass. — Fiserv has announced a new partnership with mobile banking provider M-Com to launch a "triple-play" platform for mobile banking and payments. Named Fiserv Mobile Money, this new offering will span wireless browser, messaging, and downloadable applications across core banking, Internet banking and bill payment infrastructures.
Virginia Garcia, a senior research director in the Emerging Technologies practice of TowerGroup, notes that this is a "headline event" in the U.S. mobile banking and payments market — and makes initial observations about what the Fiserv/M-Com alliance will mean for the companies and the overall mobile banking and payments space:
- Fiserv Mobile Money fires a competitive shot over the bow of other core banking and mobile banking/payments players — given that this new offering is now the core banking market's only single-platform triple-play solution that combines banking and payments functionality.
- Fiserv is a heavyweight champion in financial services technology, owning the primary technology relationship with over 6,000 banks and credit unions in the U.S. But it has been perceived to date as a mobile banking laggard. This alliance will allow Fiserv to gain sophisticated mobile finance capabilities, while giving M-Com instant U.S. market clout.
- Fiserv Mobile Money will further invigorate the still nascent, yet vibrant, mobile finance market by leapfrogging direct competitors with a model that enables a trifecta of virtual services: best-of-breed mobile finance, Internet banking and bill pay.
- Despite the deal's many benefits, Fiserv and M-Com will be challenged to match their sophisticated technology capabilities and pricing to the still nascent needs of the Fiserv customer base, in particular in providing an ASP-based solution.
Garcia has issued a full TowerGroup ViewPoint on this topic, titled "The Lion Roars: Fiserv Mobile Money's Native Triple-Play for Integrated Mobile Finance."
