ANZ goMoney iPhone app offers free funds transfers

The free app allows quick access to account balances and a 30-day transaction history.

After launching the app, a four-digit PIN is required. ANZ has done away with the traditional user name and password as PINs are less clunky but equally secure.

Customers will be able to send up to $1000 per day to recipients without the need for their bank account details. The Australian phone number is selected from the contacts list to make the mobile payment.

If the recipient is not a goMoney user, they can retrieve their funds from a secure ANZ Bank website. Payees will be notified of the transfer via SMS and given a unique PIN by the sender.

Neither party is charged for the transaction.

Account balances from a variety of ANZ products, ranging from credit cards to savings accounts, can also be instantly accessed on the iPhone. The information is displayed in clear and large fonts in an uncluttered screen.

Users will be able to instantly tell the difference between the various accounts, as each can be linked to a specific image or picture on goMoney.

As soon as a customer closes the app, the information cannot be accessed until the next session, and is again secured by the PIN.

Simplicity in design and usability were the main tenets when developing the app, according to Peter Dalton, ANZ group general manager for innovation.

ANZ customers were interested in mobile banking but didn't want a repurposed and often bloated website on their smartphones.

"Customers told us that they just didn't want the internet on their phones," Mr Dalton said.

GoMoney could be made available on other smartphone platforms like Google's Android or the BlackBerry, but the iPhone is ANZ's main focus.

The main reason, Mr Dalton said, is that 90 per cent of mobile access to ANZ's websites comes through the Apple device.

Another boon is Apple's App Store, which he said was better and easier to use than others.

The BlackBerry is not on ANZ's immediate radar as most corporates block users from downloading apps.

Mr Dalton said goMoney would be finetuned to offer BPay in future.

The app was one year in the making and developed in conjunction with Mobile Commerce.

The decision not to charge for goMoney stemmed from a belief that innovation could be the key differentiator between ANZ and its rivals.

Mr Dalton said ANZ chief Mike Smith was a "great supporter".

"One year ago he said to me that mobile is going to be very important,"  Mr Dalton said.

goMoney has more than 30,000 registered users since its iTunes debut on August 26.

In a speech last month Mr Smith said ANZ had to look beyond local shores and continue to invest in technology and innovation to realise its regional banking vision.

"If ANZ is to deliver on its super regional aspiration, we simply can not look at our domestic competitors. We have to benchmark ourselves against best of breed globally
and continue to invest in technology and innovation.

"But in order to move faster, I have to say that we’re going to make these investments much more strategically than we have in the past," Mr Smith said.

goMoney has over 30,000 registered users since its iTunes debut on August 26.

Meanwhile ANZ has around 20 merchants testing its ePOS Mobile iPhone app, Mr Dalton said.

Pilot users, like Fisher & Paykel technicians, don't have to carry portable EFTPOS machines to a customer's site as the ePOS Mobile app securely processes credit and debit card payments on the fly.