Grand Rapids joins the mobile banking movement

Mobile banking has hit a new high and continues to climb, motivating area banks to gear up their technology for customers on the move.

According to excerpts from the story:

Mobile-device use is up 58 percent from where it was six years ago, and in 2007 Wachovia, Citibank and Bank of America moved into mobile banking. Wells Fargo - which closed its version in 2002 - got back in.

United Bank of Michigan in Grand Rapids launched its mobile service last November, and other banks there are looking at late 2008 or early 2009 launches of their own.

United was the first community bank in Michigan to offer mobile banking, according to Gwyn Harnish, United Bank's vice president for marketing. Four months' operation is too soon to measure any competitive edge it may deliver.

Read the complete story here.

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