What is Mobile Banking in India: Meaning, Features, Login, and Registration

What is Mobile Banking?

Mobile Banking is the way through which financial transactions are made by using mobile phones. It includes a range of services from sending fraud alerts, transaction messages and usage activity to online payment of bills and fund transfer services.  These services are provided by most financial institutions such as banks for the convenience of their customers.  One of the greatest benefits of Mobile Banking is that customers can access banking services anywhere and everywhere. However, there are a few concerns associated with mobile banking such as security issues and limitations due to the differences between in-person banking and online banking. 

Features of Mobile Banking

• Better Security than Telephone Banking: It is a much better option than simple telephone banking as mobile banking provides enhanced security features such as face recognition, fingerprint scanning and so on. This way banks can ensure that data is accessed by an actual customer or not, by comparing it with biometric data available on their servers. It reduces the instances of fraud drastically.
• Accessibility:  Mobile Banking helps provide bank services to customers who live far from the nearest branch or in rural areas. They can easily access all banking services from the comfort of their home. Some banks even have facilities through which  Disabled individuals can communicate through sign language with an interpreter over a video call to access the banking services. 
• Decrease Infrastructure costs: For Banks, Online banking means less need to develop physical branches. It also means overhead expenses reduce as customers do not have to go to the bank for every minor transaction that can be done online. 
• Effective Use of Human Resources: With the help of Mobile Banking, Customers can easily access experts from any corner of the world. For banks, it means they can make efficient use of human resources whereas, for customers, they get access to the best experts and financial services. 
• Efficient Document Sharing:  Document sharing and Screen sharing are one of the features of Mobile Banking. It allows the customer to share the documents with the bank through a mobile banking application on phone. Bank representatives will have real-time access to it and can review the document for any complicated transaction through the mobile banking app. 

Types of Mobile Banking Services 

Mobile banking features include: 

• Online Transactions: Customers can access account details as well as account balance any time and anywhere. With the help of mobile banking, account holders can view their e-statements, Loan statements, card statements, account balance, and transaction history and even have access to e-passbooks.  
• Access to Account Information: Account holders can make payments and do online transactions from one account to another in a few seconds. Funds transfer can easily be done through NEFT, IMPS and so on by adding them as beneficiaries or through Unified Payment services (UPI). Customers can do bank-to-bank transfers, transfer funds to their own accounts, pay rent and electricity bills online, do periodic payments by scheduling them beforehand,  and do payments via NEFT, UPI, RTGS or IMPS.  NEFT is the quickest and takes up to 30 minutes to transfer funds to another account. It is used for small fund transfers. RTGS is used for transactions above Rs 2 Lakhs. In case, you have to transfer funds above Rs 5 Lakhs, then IMPS is used. 
• Support Services: Banks provide customer care services to enhance their banking experience. Account holders can use customer care services provided by the Mobile banking application to file complaints and queries. Services such as Bank locator, ATM locator, file complaint and track application, ordering new chequebooks and passbooks, cancelling or stopping cheques and so on are provided by banks on their online app. 
• Investments: Account Holders with Demat accounts can invest in the stock market using Bank’s Mobile application. Customers can invest in mutual funds, and stocks, access portfolio management services, and open fixed and recurring deposits through mobile banking.

Cybersecurity Concerns

With rising rates of online phishing scams, unsafe mobile banking can put you at the risk by revealing highly sensitive information such as bank account details to scammers. Therefore, it is always recommended not to store password details on any electronic gadgets such as mobile phones, laptops and so on. Cybersecurity includes a wide range of measures put in place to keep sensitive information secure and avoid cyber theft. It ensures that data is not misused and prevents the information from being compromised. 

Three main types of cyberattacks that 

Back Door Attacks are attacked through which someone can access the system by skipping normal security measures. Most systems have Backdoors by design or some result from the error, which hackers can utilise to gain unauthorised access to the system. 

Denial of Service Attacks means denying the right access to the rightful account holder. The online hacker may enter the wrong password multiple times to get the account locked. 

Direct Access Attack uses viruses and bugs to attack and gain access to accounts to steal information and modify it. 

How Banks can protect their customer from Online scams?

• By Educating customers about the importance of strong, unique passwords that can’t be easily cracked by hackers.
• Inform customers not to use the same passwords everywhere. 
• Using Password Managers like Lass Pass adds an extra layer of security towards password protection. 
• They can avoid online cyber-attacks by ensuring that their connection is private and secure. It is recommended not to use public networks while using banking services. 

Challenges associated with Mobile Banking

Limitation in Technical Knowledge:  Customers may not have the necessary knowledge required to use online mobile banking services. Therefore, they won’t be able to utilise the benefits of mobile banking to its full extent. 

Technical Issues and Fixes: Technical glitches can occur anytime while making online payments or using any other banking services. However, they are resolved quickly by the bank as soon as possible, when brought to notice. 

Online Scams: Bank account details are at risk of getting into the wrong hands if stored on the phone or any other electronic device.