Petra Financial and Palm Tree Technology reveal at SIBOS secure Mobile Banking prototyped on an Intel Mobile Internet Device

London, UK, 15 September 2009---Petra Financial and Palm Tree Technology have collaborated to demonstrate how the next generation of Mobile financial services will be able to use high-powered Mobile Internet Devices and tablets that are ‘always on’ and will open up new markets for devices between smart-phones and notebook computers.

Using ID Insure from PalmTree and Touchstone Mobile from Petra Financial, the user will be able to have the capabilities of a high-powered notebook PC together with the portability and communications capability of a smart-phone in one device. Portability is key, but corporate banking customers in particular will need a combination of exceptional design innovation and business workflow to deliver the usability complemented by simple, smart, and guaranteed authentication that it is the right device, in the right place and held by the right person.

ID Insure™ 2.0 secure authentication with Insurance Protection delivers stateless, synthesized multi-factor authentication that protects against a multitude of security threats for total peace of mind and is underwritten by an insurance policy from a leading global re-insurer.

Touchstone Mobile is a mobile banking and finance application that works on the Apple iPhone and iTouch; BlackBerry® Bold™ and BlackBerry® Curve™; and other 3G and WiFi phone enabled phones.

Nigel Woodward, Global Director Financial Services of Intel Corporation commented, “The mobile banking market is set to grow rapidly over the next few years according to research reports published by many renowned analysts. The essentials are design, ease of use, simplicity, and security. Touchstone Mobile enabled with ID Insure now combine features and can exploit the Intel Mobile Internet Devices – or MIDs to provide customers with simple, effective, yet secure applications and content that are always available on a high powered device capable of compute functions which could strain the current generation of phones”.

Ross Macdonald, CEO of Palm Tree Technology said: ”We are very pleased that ID Insure and Touchstone Mobile can deliver a safe and secure, yet compelling combination of banking capabilities. We are delighted to have had access to the Intel device and be able to show customers and banks what they can and should expect in the coming months, not years. With the pace of technology development, we expect these types of devices to be available in 2010, so we wanted to be able to demonstrate the features and security that they will expect”.

Commenting on this, Petra Financial’s Sales and Marketing Director John Burton, said: “We have some of the world’s leading banks as customers, and what we can see is that the iPhone has opened people’s minds to a really portable world where applications have to really deliver the function and design to be successful. With millions of application downloads from iTunes alone, there is clearly a ready market for well-designed applications that are secure. Users nowadays are very discerning. As the capabilities of MIDs become available, more people will opt for this combination of portability and accessibility. Mobile Banking will be the rule rather than the exception, and the key to this will be the design of the application together with the security that goes with it. We are delighted to have been able to prototype how this will look to customers – both retail and corporate, in time for SIBOS”.