Credit Union Mobile Banking Debut of the Week:Put it up and they will find it. That’s the guiding marketingprinciple at PalisadesFCU, a $153 million institution in Pearl River, N.Y., whichrecently launched its mobile banking app. “We put it in the AndroidMarket with no promotion,” said Anthony Pili, vice president,marketing and sales. “Without any promotion, we had over 50downloads and a perfect 5 out of 5 rating from 15 users. This wassurprising since it implies that members are going online withoutany knowledge and searching to see if their credit union has anapp,” according to Pili.

An iPhone app is going up soon, Pili added. He expects even moremembers to find that one.

What are members finding when they look for your app?

Catalyst Corporates Stakes Out Mobile: DerrickPeterson, chief financial officer at Greater TEXAS Credit Union in Austin, Texas, said his $488 millioninstitution is rolling out mobile banking and the twist is that heis using appsacquired via Catalyst Corporate and at much lower costs than he hadfound when he approached vendors as a one-off credit union.

Plano, Texas based Catalyst said it believes it can provideuseful member service while saving its members money by, ineffect, wholesaling mobile banking to them.

Greater TEXAS has now emerged as the first of what Catalysthopes will be many credit unions that turn to it for mobilebanking. “We are getting a nice price break,” said Peterson. Headded that the app has “lots of cool features – we are verysatisfied.”

As for Greater TEXAS itself, Peterson said the institution ishighly optimistic that the offering will attract more members,especially from students and recent graduates of Texas A&MUniversity, which is a key target audience. Peterson added: “Ourmembers have been asking us for mobile apps on our Facebook pageand that is where we will initially promote it.”

Remote Deposit Capture: The Mobile Banking KillerApp? “The convenience is why RDC is mobile banking’skiller app,” said Jim DeBello, CEO of Mitek Systems in San Diego,which has developed many of the patentedprocesses involved in using a smartphone to snap a photo of a checkthat can then be used to initiate a deposit.

“Point, snap, deposit, that’s what we are about,” said DeBello,who indicated Mitek – which sells through partners ranging fromFiserv to Jack Henry and FIS – controls “about 95%” of the RDCmarket.

One key to that success: “Our accuracy is high. We believe it ishigher than with deposits using desktop scanners,” saidDeBello.

Definitely, it is the next big mobile thing (though as paperchecks decline in number so will the appeal of RDC).

On Fire: Citi and now BankofAmericahave announced mobile banking apps optimized to run on Amazon’shot-selling, $199 tablet, the Kindle Fire. Some months ago, CUMobile Apps had told Credit Union Times it expected to have livecredit union apps on Fire by March 31. In a recent interview, TomGray, a partner in the firm, reiterated that. According to him, theapps for a number of credit unions are already in the Amazonapproval process. Either way, Kindle Fire – which Amazon claims isits top-selling product – looms as a new battleground for financialinstitutions. The device lacks built-in GPS so some standardAndroid app tools – ATM locators for instance – need to bere-thought before declaring an app Fire ready.

Why You Need to Be on Social Media: We areplunging headfirst into “the age of social + mobile.” That is theheadline from the latest research from Javelin, GangofFour (andPossiblyFive)Apple, Google, Facebook,Amazon–andPayPal.

A key idea in the report - which explores how nonbanks justmight grab a greater share of financial transactions - is thisadvice to get thee to a social network: “About seven out of every10 adults use social media (69%). Approximately 16% started usingsocial media in the past year alone, and notably, these newcomerscomprise all age groups. ... With 164 million adults using socialmedia, at a minimum, FIs must establish a presence to protect theirbrands from cyber squatters, fraudsters, and others who could harmtheir reputations.”

The Javelin advice continued: “Moving beyond the defensiveapproach, leading FIs are using social media mostly in the realmsof branding, marketing and advertising. The most aggressivefinancial institutions are forging into customer service, socialforums, financial literacy, financial alerts and transactions.”