Deutsche Bank to Roll Out Mobile Payments to 80 Countries

Deutsche Bank's Global Transaction Banking (GTB) division has announced that it is introducing mobile phone payments services to its clients in 80 countries across Europe, Middle East and Asia. Luup, a European based mobile payment provider, will partner with Deutsche Bank to provide the service.

This new mobile payment service will allow the Bank's GTB clients to offer millions of consumers an instant and secure payments and money transfer service from any mobile device with any mobile network. It is the first time a major commercial bank has offered a cross-border mobile payments service to its banking and corporate customers.

Daniel Marovitz, Global Head of Products at Deutsche Bank's Global Transaction Banking division said: "Mobile technology moves on apace and we believe that now is the time to take a solution to the global market. Around 61 per cent of the world's population has a mobile phone and the penetration of mobile continues to increase, while the use of cash continues to decline globally. Investing in technology and focusing on making banking and payments easier for clients and their customers is at the core of what we do."

Thomas Bostrøm Jørgensen, Chief Executive of Luup, said: "This is a huge step forward for Luup and the whole mobile payments industry. As well as benefiting consumers, Luup's services benefit financial institutions and corporate clients by opening up new markets, new channels and new revenue streams. Not only will mobile payments offer a new, convenient channel for existing customers of banks, the technology will also provide access to the 3 billion strong global unbanked population."

According to a KPMG report, the global mobile money transfer market is projected to reach USD21 billion by 2011.