PASADENA, Calif. — Talk about being a fly on the wall.

John Best, vice president/CTO of $3.7 billion Wescom CreditUnion, has been selected to sit on a panel of experts at the OnlineBanking Summit 2007, to be held March 12-14 in Charlotte, N.C.Geared to the banking industry, Best will be joined by speakersfrom heavy-hitters like Wachovia Corp., Fifth Third Bank and WellsFargo.

Best said he was chosen because of his relationship with Wescomvendor MarkMonitor, a San Francisco-based online identity securitycompany. MarkMonitor detects and shuts down phishing sites forWescom.

“We're happy with MarkMonitor's service, they've been very goodto us. Royal Media (producer of the event) has done articles wherethey've interviewed me regarding phishing incidents, the future ofphishing, and steps we've put in place as counters beyond whatMarkMonitor does, things we've learned on our own. Apparently, theyenjoyed my harebrained schemes enough to put me on the panel,” Bestsaid with a laugh.

The CTO said he was “thrilled” to be selected for the NewFrontiers Panel, which will appear at five sessions during theevent, covering topics such as new products and technologies, theevolution of retail, security technology and mobile banking, atopic of particular interest to Best.

While he's keeping a close eye on the emerging technology, Bestsaid he's not inclined to spend a significant portion of his budgetto interface Wescom's banking system with cell phones. Not justyet.

“I would say I'm cautious approaching mobile banking, becauseinterfaces and connectivity continue to improve with each newdevice. You look at the new Razors, the new Blackberries, and yousee support for Java and things that previously were not there.They continue to creatively find ways for interfaces to worktogether, and then you look at some of the new platforms out there,they are starting to bring mobile to the table, too.

“It's just speculation, but I believe mobile will come to mebefore I come to mobile. I'm interested to see if anybody elsethinks that, or if they are spending money on it,” he said. Currentmobile banking technology, already popular in Asia and Africa,allows customers to transfer funds from their financial institutionto their mobile phone account, using those funds to not only payfor mobile services, but also purchase retail items and pay bills.Some services even allow customers to directly deposit paychecksinto their phone account. Best isn't convinced the new technologywill completely replace current online banking platforms in theU.S., but rather, enhance them.

“For instance, one idea I have is a new twist on the voiceresponse. You can call the credit union and conduct transactionsvia voice commands. And, when you're finished, you could press abutton and have it automatically email or text you with the accountinformation you want, confirming your transaction,” he said.

Best also thinks consumers will want financial institutions toimplement some sort of push mechanism to mobile devices tocommunicate when a certain balance has been reached, or when acheck clears.

“People don't want to have to check for everything, they justwant to know when it happens,” he said.

In preparation for the event, Best said he would study up ononline banking issues that are specific to banks, like bank-to-banksystem integration.

“I have no idea what I'm in for, so we'll see how it goes. I'minterested to see how the for-profit mindset makes thingsdifferent,” he said. –[email protected]