Almost everyone these days uses online banking. Checking balances, paying bills, and making transfers can all be done from anywhere that has internet access. As smartphones have become increasingly more common, the opportunities for even greater integration of banking services have also expanded.

Mobile banking, or mBanking, is the use of smartphone applications, also called apps, to facilitate banking and credit transactions. People don’t like having to go to a bank branch, so these apps were instantly popular. The capabilities of smartphones, including GPS integration, image and audio capture, as well as internet access, means that the types and extent of services offered will continue to grow.

Some retailers have introduced apps that enable customers to pay for their purchases by simply waving their phones at the store’s register. The money is deducted from a prepaid virtual debit card. Third-party applications are currently being field tested that will allow more customers to pay this way at more stores, essentially replacing credit cards and cash. It is likely that more than one provider will move into the arena, each offering competitive services and features to attract consumers.

Banks are getting into the action directly, working to make all their services available to people on the go. They know that in order to keep customers and attract new ones, they need to offer what consumers want, and keeping up with the capabilities of new technology is a big part of that. At least one bank already allows users to deposit checks by sending an image via a phone application, or app. Others offer the ability to pay anyone directly by bumping together two phones which have the application opened.

Security is, of course, a big concern, one that is taken very seriously by application developers.

Precautions are taken to protect your sensitive data and that of anyone to whom you send money, just as with traditional online banking, including options such as randomized one-time-use passwords.

One feature unique to security on a smartphone is that when the phone is turned off, so is the application, meaning that there’s no way a hacker can access any information. In fact, phone technology may permit true digital signatures to be created, an advance which has never successfully been implemented for computers.

The future of online banking is as close as your mobile phone. Its functionality offers exciting new possibilities that are already being pursued. Soon you may not need to carry a wallet at all.