US financial firms embrace SMS

by Richard Kilner

Story link: US financial firms embrace SMS

Global messaging solutions provider Clickatell is to be used by US financial and technology firms serving the FI market to provide their customers with financial alerts and notifications on their mobile phones via SMS.

Visa, S1 Postilion and RSA Data Security will be all be adopting the technique to inform their customers any time, any place.

The desire for text message notification regarding financial matters is growing globally, and particularly within the US marketplace.

According to Celent’s senior banking analyst, Red Gillen, SMS is proving popular with financial firms because it is so customer friendly.

Pieter de Villiers, Clickatell’s CEO, describes the convenience and ease of use as the primary benefits of the SMS system, which allows customers to handle financial matters without the need to visit a branch or log on from a computer.

Under the agreement with Clickatell, Visa is offering its customers e-mail and text alerts when payments are made.

Clickatell will also be providing RSA, the Security Division of EMC, with the capability to send two-factor authentication direct to mobile phones.