Mobile Banking award secured by Clickatell customer

by Gill Montia

Story link: Mobile Banking award secured by Clickatell customer

Clickatell, which provides mobile messaging solutions for banks, has reported that one of its customers has won the 2009 Model Bank Award in Mobile Banking.

First National Bank (FNB) of South Africa has picked up the accolade from Celent, the consulting firm focused on the application of information technology in the global financial services industry.

FNB has been a Clickatell customer since 2004 and has pioneered the use of mobile banking services, which are now used by over 80% of its personal banking customers in South Africa.

Clickatell has also been cited for its role in providing SMS technology and text messaging services to FNB.

According to Celent’s senior analysts, Jacob Jegher: “Among many excellent nominations this year, FNB was selected for their work in … demonstrating how mobile text banking can be deployed … to prevent fraud, reduce operational costs, increase customer acquisition, loyalty and value.”

For FNB, the technology has resulted in significant cost savings as some call centre customer support activities have been replaced by text messaging.

The bank has also recently launched an interactive financial advice site to help its customers through the global recession.

The site offers advice from professionals and fellow users who post queries, experiences and useful information in blogs.