Designed for managers who need to authorise transactions while on the go, Deutsche's mobile authorisation tool aims to increase the customer's mobility and to make payments more convenient. The programme will launch internally this week and next week the customer pilot programme will begin with a Deutsche Bank client in Malaysia.
ôItÆs a solution that gives a lot of flexibility and convenience to the senior management of an organisation,ö says Deutsche's regional head of channel management and integration services Niranjan Perera. ôItÆs for the people who are mobile and cannot be at a PC all the time to authorise payments.ö
Mobile authorisation is designed to be a global product but during the pilot phase it will only be available in Deutsche's 14 markets in Asia. The bank chose Asia because of the regionÆs relatively high rate of mobile device penetration.
ôGiven the high penetration of devices such as smart phones and Blackberrys, I think this is a very mature market in which to deploy such a solution at this time,ö says Deutsche's regional head of cash product management Kok-Keong Tay.
According to the bank's internal research, 20% to 30% of senior managers in Asia carry Blackberrys or similar.
Any Deutsche client with an internet-enabled mobile phone will be able to use mobile authorisation. According to Perera, security was DeutscheÆs number one concern when designing the product. Running as a secure website on a phoneÆs internet browser, mobile authorisation requires the authoriser to log on with their unique username and password, then enter a single-use security code before authorising transactions.
Despite the necessary security precautions, mobile authorisation will work with any phone in any market. ôAs long as you have the coverage, you have access to the system and you can authorise the payments,ö says Perera.
Mobile authorisation will compete with e-mail-confirmed transaction authorisations used by other banks. According to Perera, other mobile authorisation options in the market involve a time lag that customers do not have with DeutscheÆs product. With the new mobile authorisation tool, he says, customers will receive instant notification on whether their authorisation went through.
Current delivery calls for 12 to 15 customers to be enrolled in mobile authorisation by the end of the first quarter 2009. Interested companies stretch across Asia from India to South Korea. If successful, the bank plans to roll-out the product globally within a year.
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