LA JOLLA, Calif.-E-business company Global Vision Holdings Inc. announced it teamed with Virtual Integrated Applications Inc. (Via Cell) to offer wireless banking applications. The companies said wireless users will be able to securely manage their bank and debit/credit card accounts, including cash loading onto card accounts, transferring funds between card accounts and balance inquiries.
The companies said they will offer the service starting early next year and have lined up an unnamed major domestic bank, an international bank and a large merchant to participate. The companies said the rising costs associated with transferring money via conventional methods, such as the Western Union, makes their offering a viable low-cost money transfer alternative.
However, the companies are entering a market some consider virtually dead. To wit: Bank of Montreal, the first to introduce a wireless banking program in North America and a loud proponent of the business, shut its service down last year. The move followed similar suspensions by Bank of America, Citibank, Fleet’s Quick & Reilly, Keybank and Washington Mutual.
The distaste for wireless banking isn’t limited to the United States and Canada, however. The United Kingdom’s Egg and NatWest banks shut down their services, as well as the Bank of Ireland and United Overseas Bank in Singapore. Indeed, according to research and advisory firm Celent Communications, Citibank Singapore surveyed its customers and found that only two out of every 1,000 used or even expressed interest in mobile banking.
