Royal Bank of Canada is to deliver wireless transactional banking over the Fido Personal Communications network operated by Microcell.
The new service will be made available through Fido's Access Finances channel and will offer customers basic account information and transactional services, including bill payment, funds transfer and bank e-mail communications.
The Royal Bank offering is the only wireless banking service in Canada to use Fido's smart card technology to protect customer passwords. The handset's smart card is also used to store the customer's account and bill payee list. This enables customers to quickly initiate functions such as bill payment before connecting to the wireless network to execute the transaction.
To activate Access Finances, current Fido customers must purchase a kit at the cost of $25. Royal Bank customers will be invited to purchase the Royal Bank-Fido in a box for $75, which includes a Nokia 5190 handset.