Detail

Prague, 10 May 2005 - Komerční banka has expanded its offer of direct banking services to include a new revolutionary service - mobile banking. This new service enables the clients to control their bank account on-line using the keyboard and display of their mobile phone handsets.

The service, Mobilní banka KB, works on the basis of the Java technology and all communication between the client and the bank takes place in the form of data transmission. "This is a revolutionary innovation in direct banking and Komerční banka is the first bank in the Czech Republic, and one of the first in the world, to offer this service to its clients," says André Léger, Executive Director for Marketing.

Using Mobilní banka, clients can send payment orders, find the balance in their accounts, follow the transaction history and payment card transactions holds, use templates for repetitive payments and send notifications of made payments.

"In comparison with the older service that made it possible to control a bank account via a mobile phone using the SIM Toolkit, mobile banking offers easy and convenient operation and clear graphic representation identical with internet banking. All communication takes place in the on-line mode, which ensures a fast response and currency of the information displayed," Peter Hollovič, head of direct banking at KB, specifies the advantages of mobile banking.

Like Komerční banka's other direct banking channels, mobile banking is accessible 24 hours a day 365 days a year in both Czech and English versions; the customers of all domestic mobile operators can use it.

From May to the end of September 2005 Mobilní banka will be offered free of charge, and the monthly fees for maintaining this service will not be charged to clients in this period.

The security solution for Mobilní banka has been designed in line with the latest trends. Upon every log-in, client identification and authentication takes place. The information transmitted between the client and the bank is encrypted using the AES procedure.

The use of this new direct banking channel requires a mobile handset meeting the technical conditions of the services, activation of data services with the operator and KB Expresní linka phone banking with which service security is shared. To activate the KB Mobilní banka service the client can use his existing SIM card and the service does not require buying a special SIM card.

Cleverlance, a leading European supplier of open multi-layer solutions, which provides all-round services for information system analysis, implementation and maintenance, co-operated in the development of the Mobilní banka application with Komerční banka. "The Mobilní banka was designed so that application's parameterization, testing, distribution and the resulting report is conducted centrally. Users thus benefit from the application's speed, cost-effective data communication, a high security level and a lucid graphic interface," said Cleverlance Product Development Manager, Ondřej Janovský, on the occasion of introducing Mobilní banka.

More than 735,000 clients used Komerční banka's direct channels at the end of April 2005. By the same date 625,000 clients had set up Expresní linka phone banking, i.e. 22 per cent more than in the same period of 2004. The number of mojebanka internet banking users grew 43 per cent year on year, to 248,000 clients. PC banking, profibanka, was used by 22,330 clients (year on year growth 5.3 per cent).

In March, more than 6.6 million payment instructions were given via direct banking, which is accessible 24 hours a day 365 days a year, and almost 2,350,000 SMS with information on their bank accounts were sent to clients.

Komerční banka is the third largest bank in the Czech Republic by the size of assets, providing comprehensive financial services to clients in retail, corporate and investment banking. Today, 7,600 KB employees serve more than 1,421,000 customers, who can use an extensive network of 337 points of sale all over the country. KB operates 569 ATMs and more than 735,000 of its customers use one of direct banking channels.

In 2004 KB was awarded the "Bank of the Year" title. KB is a part of the Société Générale Group, the 5th banking group in the euro zone. Around 90,000 of the Group's employees serve almost 16 million retail clients worldwide.

Cleverlance is a leading Central European supplier of open multi-tier solutions, providing comprehensive services for the analysis, implementation, development and maintenance of information systems for sectors of financial services, telecommunications, state administration and self-administration. Cleverlance's aim is to help its clients achieve success by providing system support of their business processes as well as through efficient implementation of modern application architecture able to quickly react to newly arising business requirements. The Cleverlance team consists of over 200 specialists. In 2004, Cleverlance's year-on-year turnover increased by 133%.
More information on the company can be found at www.cleverlance.cz.