The HSBCnet Mobile service has one the largest coverage of any bank mobile service - in 65 countries world-wide. In the first 25 weeks since its launch, it was used to authorise USD 1.7bn of payments. Although this is a small proportion of the total value of payment processed by HSBC, it shows that corporate treasury users are becoming comfortable with mobile technology and its security.

HSBCnet Mobile is designed to enable corporate treasurers and senior managers to check account balances and statements, authorise payments (including priority payments, inter-account transfers and ACH credits/debits) and receive payment alerts. In addition, users can authorise cross-border payments with 'Get Rate' - HSBC's service, which allows customers to view and instantly book FX rates when making foreign-currency payments.

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New mobile services for corporate treasurers and their staff are being announced almost daily, most are very similar, me-too services. The differentiator between these services is going to be how much brand new 'value-add' facilities banks can provide AND how global these services will really be. It's going to be a costly game, but the winners will eventually gain huge market share.