While most banks now offer cellphone banking, Standard Bank has launched a range of creative services designed so that anyone with a WAP-enabled cell phone can access them via the Standardbank.mobi site.

.mobi means that users can access the Internet site from their phone via GPRS. "Instead of simply replicating our .co.za site, we tried to think about the kind of things that would make sense for a mobile site, especially those relating to convenience and ease of use," says Charles Street, head: mobile channel self-service banking at Standard Bank.

"We didn’t want to bog the site down with too much information about all our products and services," he adds. "Instead, we see the site as the first step in getting familiar with the bank, applying for a home loan, finding out where our branches are located. The content on the site is user-friendly for smaller mobile screens. It is straight to the point, and provides the user with guidance on how to get any further information they may require from us."

"Most South Africans have a cell phone," says Street, "Now people who previously had limited access to our online services can reach these from their phones. We intend to set up an information portal including answers to frequently asked questions. This means that people who may not have the time to stop by at the bank and ask some questions will be able to get the answers they require wherever they are."

According to Street, going forward, this site provides an opportunity to give people access to the bank, as well as several other complementary services to keep people coming back, such as regular updates about sporting events like the Standard Bank Pro 20 Series Cricket.

Similar to GPS technology, the Locate Me function on Standardbank.mobi is based on location-based services (LBS) which identify the estimated location of the handset. Although not as accurate as GPS, the service, currently provided by Vodacom, although MTN is set to follow soon, can be implemented in .mobi sites to direct users to designated places of interest.

A second feature on Standardbank.mobi is the Home Loan Calculator. This service helps people to calculate how much they can afford on a home loan or how much they can expect to pay as monthly instalments. The Home Loan Calculator SMSs the results back to the user for free, and the service enables the users to request the bank to contact them to initiate the home loan application process.
 
Source: Computing SA Press Release -  April 21st 2008 - 19:17:10