CardMarketing 2.0

So, what will be the single most important challenge (and opportunity) for card marketers in 2008? Well, the conclusion of most is that issuers, in the shadow of the iPhone and what it represents, will need to work on sending their services mobile.

You see, people, these days, want to be able to check their balances and make transactions on the move — when they want and where they want, not just at their desks (almost sounds archaic). Well, the latest issuer to offer mobile services is...

... ICICI India, India's second largest bank. In mid Jan, ICICI launched iMobile, a mobile banking platform that allows its customers (after they've entered a secure four-digit pin) to transfer funds to other personal accounts through their mobiles and even send money to non ICICI accounts, for example, to pay insurance premiums and utility bills.

Downloading the mobile banking application is straightforward, which will definitely help in the marketing of the service. People registered for mobile alerts do it by simply sending an 'iMobile' SMS, those on GPRS will receive a WAP link for activation, while a third option is to just download it to your desktop from the ICICI website and transfer it to your handset via cable or bluetooth.

Commenting on the new service, Mr. V. Vaidyanathan, Executive Director, ICICI Bank, said: "ICICI Bank has always focused on innovation to improve customer experience. India has only 20 million internet connections and has over 200 million mobile connections. With this application, most features of internet banking will now be available on mobile phones, providing a breakthrough improvement in banking services."

If, as most people suspect, m-banking is set to revolutionize banking services, what are you doing to ensure you stay ahead of the pack?