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ATMIA publishes mobile banking best practices

September 25, 2008

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BROOKINGS, S.D. — The ATM Industry Association has launched Best Practices for Mobile Device Banking Security.

"Mobile banking is one of the fastest growing applications in financial services today," said Mike Lee, ATMIA's chief executive. "And there is a promising interface between mobile phones and ATM networks."

The aim of the best practices, which may be the first of its kind, is to promote lifecycle security for mobile banking.

Facts summarised in the book's Executive Summary include:

Mobile-phone banking is in a high-growth phase with at least 90 companies emerging in recent years offering banking and payment applications for mobile phones.
It is estimated that as much as half of the world's population may now own a mobile phone, with about 80 percent of the U.S. population thought to own one.
The World Bank estimates that about two-thirds of the world's population live within range of a mobile phone network.
It is expected that around 2.3 trillion SMSs will be sent in 2008.
Mobile phones tend to be replaced every 18 months, compared to PCs being replaced on average every 42 months.

"Fraudsters will target any channel which distributes value, customer data or electronic money," Lee said. "The rate of loss of mobile phones averages one every minute in the world. If the whole industry could adopt a holistic approach and plug any gaps in the security lifecycle by applying these best practices and conforming to standards, a trusted environment for mobile banking will prevail."

The new best practice manual covers SIM card security, mobile-software security, enrollment, registration, customer access to banking on mobile devices, security and privacy of customer details/data, customer education on the mobile phone as an instrument of value, dealing with lost or stolen mobile phones/devices, security of software and transmission to financial services device (e.g. ATM), defining strengths and vulnerabilities of each mobile phone channel/protocol, and outlining the regulatory framework for mobile banking.

Contributors to the best practices include Standard Bank, Monitise, Genpact, CellTrust, i2SMS, ThoughtKey and Geobridge Consulting, as well as ATMIA's Mobile Phone Banking Security Committee.

For more information, contact Mike Lee.

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ATM Industry Association (ATMIA)

ATMIA is the leading non-profit representing the global ATM industry, serving thousands of members across 500 companies, including financial institutions, deployers, manufacturers, and service providers. As a division of, ePayResources, our mission is to promote ATM growth and usage, protect industry interests.

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