The Telegraph: Two of Britain's top five banks and four mobile operators, including Vodafone, are preparing to launch a new service with the Link ATM network that will allow users to check bank balances and top up pre-paid handsets via their mobiles.
The service, known as MobileATM, will be launched in 2005's first quarter of next year. New services, such as the ability to access lists of recent transactions and, potentially, to extend overdrafts and transfer money to other people's accounts, will be added during the year.
MobileATM is a joint venture between Morse, the listed computer services group, and Link, which is owned by 22 financial institutions and is responsible for switching all cross-bank ATM traffic in the UK. It uses Link's existing technology to replicate the look of an ATM screen on a mobile, offering much the same services except the ability to withdraw cash.
It is expected that within 12 months half of Britain's banks will be offering the service, which has taken two years to launch because of the number of parties involved.
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