Money marketers are increasingly using mobiles to get their messages across. Ryan Harrison reports.
In the technology sector, nowhere has the impact of smart phones been as dramatic as in the world of banking.
As the new adage goes, people sometimes leave home without their wallets, but never without their mobile phone.
So, it's a no-brainer that banks are becoming obsessed with mobile money transfers. But who is winning as a result of this shift in consumer habits? And is everyone convinced about the security of card-less technology?
According to Ziad Alshobaki, MOBIbucks managing director of MENA operations, which claims to be the first to offer a fully card-less/cashless payment service in the Middle East, mobile phones are now essential to a bank's marketing plan.
"We are card-less, and that's what banks in the Gulf are aiming for. There have also been complaints about credit card companies in the past over fees, and instead banks are beginning to choose MOBIbucks' method.
"One bank in the Gulf is working on an advert where a guy is at the beach and pays using his mobile. There's also an Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) ad running where someone forgets their wallet at home, but can still withdraw cash from the ATM," he added.
ADCB is the first bank to offer this next-generation mobile payment service. In January, MOBIbucks also signed a deal with a consortium of seven Arab Banks to provide wider services in the Levant region.
Alshobaki said the firm is working on a smart phone app and also targeting Saudi Arabia as a crucial market.
Separately, Visa and Emirates NBD have launched a pilot scheme so consumers can buy products via smart phones.
Meanwhile, a number of international money exchanges that offer similar services around the world are considering launching in the region.
The move has been driven by the high mobile penetration in the Middle East, which means consumers often own more than one phone.
But not everyone is so sure about the safety aspects of handing financial transactions to mobile phone companies, especially in the current political climate.
One Gulf-based financial expert said: "Consumers have to be confident they are paying or transferring money with a system that's known and trusted. There just needs to be the proper groundwork by regulators and mobile telcos in the Middle East before this can take off."
So far, indigenous banks are playing catch-up - as firms such as MOBIbucks blaze a trail - and, as a result, are throwing everything they have at marketing the service, even if they're not completely up to speed.
The backdrop is there's a big shift from print to digital media channels, and mobile phones fit neatly into this trend.
© Gulf Marketing Review 2012
