Dresdner Kleinwort Benson (DrKB) has signalled the launch of the second stage of its wireless technology capability with the provision of a full range of investment banking services via GPRS and i-Mode applications.
The internal roll-out of the bank’s mobile technology solution, known as the Personal Pocket Portal, started on 27 November.
"The Personal Pocket Portal is now being introduced to clients as an extension of our existing Web services," says Al-Noor Ramji, global chief information officer at DrKB. "It means our clients will be able to access DrKB’s Globeweb Equity Research, FX Order Entry, Indications of Interest, Equity Order Entry and Order Book Browsing, and Trade Settlement and account back office information via their wireless device of choice, such as a mobile phone or PDA."
He says the service will be made available to clients according to geographical technology preferences, for example, i-Mode in Japan and GSM or GPRS in Europe.
DrKB is believed to be the first financial institution to be able to deploy secure global wireless technology services based on GPRS and i-Mode to its clients. Using the Mobility product from Dublin’s Macalla Software, a common mobile platform is currently being deployed across Europe and Japan with North America to follow in the New Year. The Japanese deployment exploits the wide availability and the success of NTT DoCoMo’s i-Mode technology giving clients instant connectivity. As part of the deployment in Europe, DrKB is also rolling-out GPRS versions of all the applications on the portal in extensive trials.
In time, it is anticipated that the Personal Pocket Portal will be developed into a multi-provider portal facilitating access to DrKB information as well as trading information from other investment banks.