Cleveland-based Charter One Financial, a top thirty US bank, is to extend its technology license with Brokat to include wireless banking. The $32 billion bank holding company recently selected Brokat's Twister platform to provide Web-based banking to consumers and small business.
Charter One customers will now have browser and wireless access to cheque, savings, money market, mortgage, and loan accounts through Brokat's e-banking application. Charter One expects the new functionality to broaden its customer base.
"We know that not everyone will embrace the Internet as a delivery platform," says Bud Koch, Charter One CEO. "There is a substantial market out there demanding high quality, real-time access not restricted to a desktop."
Celent Communications - a Boston-based consulting and research firm - predicts that more banks will venture online in 2000 and 2001, offering a broader range of transactions and financial products over the Internet and a larger number of electronic delivery channels.
"While the Internet is expected to remain the dominant electronic channel in North America, the number of wireless users is expected to increase," says Octavio Marenzi of Celent Communications. The number of digital phones in North America will be around 96 million by the end of 2000, expected to reach 130 million in 2002 and 156 million by 2005