Clickatell and mFoundry have teamed up to enable banks and financial institutions to let customers manage their finances via SMS.

MFoundry offers integrated SMS, WAP and mobile applications equipped with native support for iPhone and iPod touch users in its mobile banking and payments service. Clickatell, which currently supports mroe than 8,300 customers with its carrier-grade mobile messaging service, will now extend that support to text banking SMS delivery for mFoundry.

"Clickatell and mFoundry form a powerful relationship, each bringing award-winning services, which can help any bank -- large or small -- get started deploying their mobile strategy today," said Chuck Drake, executive vice president of marketing for Clickatell, Redwood City, CA.

"Banks know they need a mobile strategy, but many don't know where to begin," he said. "The innovative banks that provide mobile banking solutions today will soon become the banks of the future."

Clickatell allows businesses, governments and communities the opportunity to take advantage of the ubiquity of mobile messaging in order to inform, alert, transact and interact.

MFoundry is a provider of comprehensive mobile banking and payments services for banks, credit unions, processors and operators that offers support for full service mobile banking and payments.

Celent Banking Group admits that it's a time of great opportunity in mobile banking and expects that people around the world will soon replace their wallet with a mobile phone.

"[Mobile] is the way of the future for banking and many other forms of communications and commerce," Mr. Drake said. "Everyone carries a mobile phone in their pocket, purse or backpack -- many not leaving home without it, even over their wallets!"

"Banks all around the world, from the Top 50 on down to small community-sized banks, are offering a variety of ways that people can bank from their cell phone," he said.

Many forms of text banking are already in practice such as SMS receipts, mobile alerts, money transfers and balance checks.

Clickatell claims that SMS plays a vital role in the delivery of compelling mobile banking services across every point of interest to financial institutions.

According to Clickatell, SMS banking is an asset because it leverages the wide-spread popularity of text messaging to incorporate and improve the financial well-being of all individuals.

"Though still evolving, mobile banking is a reality," Mr. Drake said.

MFoundry cites the delivery of enterprise level services as its reason for choosing Clickatell because it guarantees banks a high level of reliability and security without the wait.

The access that Clickatell offers to carrier connections dwarfs that of the nearest competitor which also prompted mFoundry to head in that direction.

MFoundry admits that this type of broad access gives its regional and community bank customers better coverage.

Clickatell's focus on the financial services industry has led to some big name customers such as First National Bank, Standard Bank, Fortis Micro Finance Banks and the Security Division of EMC.

"Mobile banking metrics are beginning to emerge, showing the success of this truly viable banking approach," Mr. Drake said.

"As mobile banking expands, people are demanding free basic mobile services and will soon pay for higher value services to be able to perform real time transactions using their cell phone," he said.