PNC Bank's PINACLE Mobile gives financial executives another reason to keep their smart phones close.
The Pittsburgh-based bank has introduced PINACLE Mobile, a mobile-banking service for financial executives. The service enables them to review account balances and approve basic transactions with their smart phones while traveling.
PNC Bank designed PINACLE Mobile for company officers who may be out of the office for business or personal reasons. The executives, however, need to perform basic financial transactions without having to plug into an electrical socket or find a Wi-Fi connection.
With PINACLE, officers can approve outbound financial wires. They also can view the day's current financial reports, messages, alerts and notifications with their smart phones.
PINACLE Mobile is designed to be secure. Data is not stored on the phone. Additional security features include token authentication, account-number masking and a shorter idle timeout to protect against unauthorized use on a lost or stolen phone.
PNC is targeting PINACLE Mobile to midsize and large companies with annual sales of least $30 million, said Amy Vargo, a PNC spokesperson.
The companies decide which officers have access to PINACLE Mobile. Executives who use PINACLE Mobile have responsibility for cash management and treasury functions. The officers who use PINACLE Mobile do not download an application to their cell phone, Vargo said.
In order to access PINACLE Mobile, the company must be a PNC customer. The business also must participate in PNC's online banking portal, which is called PINACLE. A PINACLE Mobile phone user executes transactions through the online banking portal.
Andy Thompson, cash manager for CONSOL Energy Inc., a Pittsburgh-based producer of high-BTU bituminous coal, said PINACLE Mobile makes him more productive when he is away from the office.
"This technology makes idle time away from the office more productive by enabling me to check my corporate account balances, release pending wires and notifying me of incoming wire transfers," Thompson said.
