Financial services technology provider Fiserv Inc. announced FirstMerit Bank from Akron, Ohio has launched a mobile banking solution using Fiserv's Mobile Money product. What makes this announcement noteworthy is how long it took FirstMerit to implement the new service. From start to finish, FirstMerit was able to have a mobile banking service up and running in 120 days. What's more, since launching in early August approximately 11 percent of active FirstMerit online banking users have enrolled in the service.

"We were looking for a mobile banking solution that would integrate easily with our existing systems and allow us to get up and running quickly," said FirstMerit's SVP and CMO, Julie Tutkovics, in the announcement.

"The Fiserv project team was very knowledgeable and made the implementation process a smooth one," Tutkovics said. "Fiserv also helped us develop a launch strategy via their adoption marketing services program and put us in contact with other banks that had already gone through the process, which was invaluable.

"The tremendous customer adoption we've seen reaffirms our decision to launch mobile banking," Tutkovics said.

According to Fiserv's announcement, FirstMerit is using an off-the-shelf version of Mobile Money called Mobile Money FastTrack specifically designed to give financial institutions access to the most popular mobile banking features within a condensed timeframe.

"Mobile Money FastTrack is host-system agnostic, providing FirstMerit with the ease of integration they needed, while enabling them to customize branding and user-experience elements," said Erich Litch, division president of Digital Channels for Fiserv, in the announcement.

"These qualities allowed the bank to quickly launch a highly functional solution that can grow along with their customers' needs," Litch said.

The solution gives FirstMerit customers access to mobile banking services through Android, iPhone or BlackBerry applications, as well as through SMS text messaging, the company said. Banking customers can review account balances, see transaction history, locate bank branches and ATMs, and transfer funds between their FirstMerit accounts.

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