AT&T, BancorpSouth and Firethorn Holdings enable mobile banking

Mar 27, 2007 10:27 GMT  ·  By

AT&T, BancorpSouth, and Firethorn Holdings announced the availability of a mobile banking application that brings the convenience and security of online banking to mobile phones. BancorpSouth customers who subscribe to AT&T's wireless service can now download the mobile banking application directly to their device, allowing them to view their account balances, transfer funds between accounts, and receive and pay bills. To help ensure privacy and security, all information on the mobile banking application is password-protected and encrypted.

"At BancorpSouth, a key emphasis is on offering our customers convenient, time-saving new ways of managing their money," said Aubrey Patterson, BancorpSouth's chairman and chief executive officer. "That is why we were the first financial institution to participate in a trial of mobile banking with AT&T and Firethorn, and that is why we are now making this application available to all of our customers."

AT&T and BancorpSouth use Firethorn to enable the mobile banking application and, through Firethorn's partnership with CheckFree Corp., customers who are using the electronic billing and payment service to receive and pay bills online will now be able to do this from their mobile device. Firethorn serves as a single pathway between financial institutions and wireless carriers, offering a secure technology platform on which mobile banking capabilities can be built.

"We are delighted to work with BancorpSouth and Firethorn on this exciting new application," said Jim Ryan, vice president, Data Services at AT&T's wireless unit. "Big developments in wireless often start with a seed. For example, until just a few years ago, text messaging was a novelty, and now it is pervasive and hard-wired into our behavior. We believe that mobile banking will rapidly move up a similar curve of mass adoption with AT&T's 61 million wireless customers."