Barcelona, 3 March 2010. – GFT, international Information Technologies (IT) service provider, will expand this year its Mobile Finance Competence Centre in Barcelona and launch further competence centres for mobile applications in Germany and Brazil.  
 
This was announced in Hanover at CeBIT by GFT Chairman of the Executive Board, Ulrich Dietz. "We sense an immense consultancy need in banks and insurance companies. As a strategic partner, we already support renowned financial institutions in the mobilisation of business processes and the development of business models for mobile phones," explained Dietz.

In May 2009, GFT founded the Mobile Finance Competence Centre in Barcelona. The 20-member team of experts had a dynamic start with an analysis of the opportunities for mobile technologies in the financial sector and the development of specific applications for banks and insurance companies . First projects have already been accomplished. New mobile banking solutions are currently being developed.

"With second generation smartphones in particular, brand new applications for financial services customers will be possible," says Carlos Eres, General Director of GFT in Spain. As a result, GFT would like to substantially broaden its consultancy capacities in the mobile finance sector. In addition to the expansion of the Competence Centre in Barcelona, further centres will be created in Germany and Brazil. "The next logical step for us is to bring our mobile knowledge as well as our international consultancy team closer to the clients," says Eres. "In doing so, we are aiming to broaden our capacities both in Europe and in emerging countries, as the use of mobile devices by end users varies greatly.“ Mobile is an additional channel to the customer in industrial nations; in emerging countries it is often the only one. Future Mobile Finance Competence Centres in additional countries are also conceivable.

"The banks must deal with the trend for mobilising business processes on time," explains Professor Dr. Hans-Peter Burghof, Director of the Department of Banking and Financial Studies at the University of Hohenheim. "Many have already realised this and in Europe in particular, individual institutions have already made great inroads. But most bankers find it difficult to get a grip on the new, mobile world, in which they find themselves in a conflict of interests and a competitive relationship with mobile phone manufacturers, network providers or internet companies," adds the banking expert.

On the other hand, the banks in particular are on the verge of new and grand prospects. The increasing use of the mobile internet will have a huge effect on financial transactions, according to assessments by the mobile finance experts at GFT. Banks are given the opportunity to shape an entirely new level of customer loyalty, via the intelligent mobile phones of the new generation. Future devices will make the secure identification of the user possible by means of a hardware component,. This will not merely make the authorisation of banking transactions secure, the mobile phone will also become an alternative to debit or credit cards. "With the new payment function, mobile phones become an electronic wallet, and therefore a constant companion, which can be linked with the bank brand," according to Professor Burghof. He also points out that, for banks, it is not merely about developing new services for the customers, but also about securely and efficiently integrating these into their own back-end processes.

"This is a major challenge for IT in the financial sector. There is currently a great uncertainty about the extent to which mobilisation will affect financial institutions and their IT capabilities. As IT specialists and an authority on banking processes, we are in a position to set the right course for the future of mobilisation and banking," explains GFT General Director in Spain, Carlos Eres.