Vertical Applications
- Financial Industry -

Wireless Banking Customer Application Profiles 

Electronic Data Systems Corp.
After a successful pilot test program with EDS Employee’s Credit Union and Texans, the credit union of Texas Instruments Inc., Electronic Data Systems Corp. has now launched a nationwide wireless banking service for Palm VII handheld users.  The solution runs on top of Palm.net wireless network service (using Bell South’s Wireless Data infrastructure). The solution optimizes wireless network traffic using Palm's Web Clipping technology. This service enables financial institutions to offer basic wireless banking services -- checking balances, paying bills, and transferring money on a one-time or recurring basis – to customers who own Palm VII devices or cell phones that support browsers from Phone.com Inc. To address security concerns, EDS has implemented an infrastructure that includes firewalls to protect against potential holes.

In the future, EDS plans to expand the service to include bill presentment that will enable customers to receive and pay their bills wirelessly.

Bank of Montreal
In May 1999, the Bank of Montreal in conjunction with 724 Solutions Inc. and Bell Mobility, launched Veev – a wireless Internet package of services delivering financial information, banking services and lifestyle services.  Veev is based on 724 Solutions’ Financial Services Platform.

The 724 platform, running on a mixture of Windows NT and Solaris 7 systems, provides a number of components

• Channel services
• The application port that accepts requests, retrieves the data, aggregates it in XML and furnishes it to the devices.
• A content protocol gateway
• The session component
• The authentication component
• The profiling engine that provides customer personalization and customization.

The 724 platform integrates with WAP-enabled cell phones or PDAs that use WAP. It is also compatible with a variety of carriers and Internet-enabled devices, and can be deployed in a number of languages.

Veev can be accessed using browser-enabled digital PCS phones and other popular, portable Internet access devices, including Palm Computing devices. Veev is currently available free of charge in Ontario and Quebec to Bell Mobility customers with WAP-enabled phones. Veev runs on the Bell Mobility Canada PCS/CDMA network and is accessed by consumers using Qualcomm Inc.'s 2700 cellular phones equipped with Phone.com Inc.'s WAP browser.

Once enrolled, Veev users have the ability to:

• Trade stocks through Bank of Montreal's InvestorLine discount brokerage.
• Access bank account balances and transaction details.
• Transfer funds between accounts.
• Pay bills
• View Bank of Montreal MasterCard transactions and payments.
• View personalized investment portfolios.
• Request stock, mutual fund and index quotes.
• Create and receive stock alerts.
• Purchase books from bestseller lists through Indigo.ca.
• Check Air Miles Collector Card balances
• Read news stories from Canadian Press and Reuters, as well as weather and horoscopes.

Harris Bank
More recently, using the same 724 platform, Harris Bank (a subsidiary of The Bank of Montreal, based in Chicago) was first in the United States to introduce banking via wireless devices. Using WAP-enabled cell phones, users can access account balances; make money transfers and receive customized stock quotes, news, sports, weather and horoscopes.  The Bank has plans to expand their services to include investment portfolio access, bill payment and credit card advances. On the phone handset, security is provided by the telecommunications carrier using RSA-based encryption. The bank also uses multiple levels of password controls based on data and transaction sensitivity.

Harris Bank had to develop much of the technology for integrating its back-end banking applications with the wireless communications network. Relying on XML standards, it built an XML server that translates data received from the 724 platform into OFX (Open Financial Exchange) documents, which use a strain of XML, specific to the financial services industry.

Harris Wireless Banking now supports customers using Palm devices connected through wireless connections.  

Based on emerging technologies in wireless banking, most will agree that ‘Bankers Hours’ are a thing of the past.

For more information:
http://www.eds.com/news/news_releases/news_release_template.shtml?rowid=1377
http://www.bmo.com/news/index.html
http://www.zdnet.com/eweek/stories/general/0,11011,2461855,00.html

More Banking Business Cases : Go to Application Case study folder and then select banking case studies..