March 16, 2009
Leveraging the fraud-fighting benefits of using text messaging to enable anytime, anywhere alerts between financial service providers and their customers,
Clickatell (Redwood City, Calif.) has launched SMS Receipts. Using SMS Receipts and other text notifications sent directly to cell phones, financial services providers are able to empower customers to scrutinize transactions as they happen. According to the vendor, financial institutions are looking for ways to provide on-the-spot mobile SMS receipts and other alerts to notify customers when there is any account activity, suspicious or otherwise. Financial service providers can use Clickatell's SMS Receipts and other text alerts to notify customers when transactions occur, giving them the instant ability to verify legitimate use of their account or to detect fraud.
First National Bank (FNB, Johannesburg), a South African bank that has been working with Clickatell for more than six years, reports that its SMS alert service inContact has reduced fraud significantly and also has increased the effectiveness of its Internet banking service. With more than 80 percent of its customers now subscribing to inContact, FNB reports that client retention has grown significantly, while call center costs have been reduced. "InContact has been a tremendous success for FNB for many years," said Len Pienaar, FNB's CEO of Mobile Transact Solutions, in a statement. "The SMS-based program created early consumer confidence in mobile banking through text receipt alerts and has translated in rapid uptake of our interactive mobile banking services. We experienced significant fraud reduction, fewer false reports of fraud, and less pressure on the call center, which saved the bank money."
Katherine Burger is Editorial Director of Bank Systems & Technology and Insurance & Technology, members of UBM TechWeb's InformationWeek Financial Services. She assumed leadership of Bank Systems & Technology in 2003 and of Insurance & ...
