The payment technology sector and the banking industry are increasingly thriving on apps. This is why almost each of the 24 banks in Nigeria has an app for their customers when it comes to mobile or online banking.
About a year ago, owners of Android smartphones began downloading mobile banking apps from Google’s Android Market. The apps cost about $1.50 each and connected users with about 40 major banks in the United States, including Bank of America and Wells Fargo.The apps were created by a developer known only as 09Droid whose identity remains a mystery to this day.
As mobile banking is simply too convenient to ignore, is there a way to do it safely? Yes, experts say, if you follow a few precautions.there are safety tips you need to know before and after you download your banking app.Different app stores have different standards for which apps they’ll offer to the public. Google’s Android Market is famously open, accepting nearly every app developers submit, while Apple’s App Store puts apps through rigorous testing first.
“Find out who owns the domain,” Sheehan advises, adding that, “You can use Whois Lookup to find the owner of any domain.” Look for a large number of reviews because a small number could be fakes put there by the developers themselves. “You should also search social networking sites and check out the Twitter stream about it,” Schultz says.
“A lot of banking apps will ask if you want to save your password or stay logged in. You definitely don’t want to do that on a mobile device.”If your device is ever lost or stolen, you should remotely “wipe” it – that is remove all your personal data and restore it to its factory state.