
In a short span of less than 10 years, smartphones have taken over the world. There are even talks of altering Abraham Maslow’s “A Theory of Human Motivation.” Within this theory stands the famous “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”. Physical needs no longer stand as the most fundamental needs, wifi has taken over the need for food, drinks and shelter.
Banking services have also moved from brick and mortar bank branches to our mobiles. In order to keep up, let us look at some services that the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation’s Mobile App (OCBC MA) provides that we tend to look over.
Checking Bank Balance Without Logging In
Gone are the days when we were required to remember our login ID and login password, and still had to key in the 2nd factor security code just to see how much balance we have in our account.
All we need now is a “smarter” phone; by this we mean a phone that can recognize our fingerprints. For consistency, we will be using iPhone’s OCBC mobile app.
Upon launching OCBC MA, we will see a colourful fingerprint icon. Clicking on it will prompt us to verify our identification, using our fingerprints that are stored in our mobile phones.
To compensate for this function’s lack of security, OCBC MA makes it such that we can only look at the balances in our bank account and credit card expenses. To compensate for the lack of identity recognition, we are NOT allowed to make any banking transactions via this function.
Just checking our balances is not that tough anymore, is it?
Read Also: Why You Should Never Let Merchants Double Swipe Your Credit Card
We Can Transfer Cash Without Knowing One Another’s Account Number
Perspective of the Person Transferring
Whenever a group of friends head out for a hearty dinner, there will be someone who always foots the bill. When it comes to paying that person back, it tends to be quite troublesome.
A $93 bill, split by six will cost $18.30 each. Paying it back by cash is inconvenient and clumsy. However, transferring by internet banking requires the token to add a friend’s account number into the list of transfer payees.
OCBC MA provides a platform which allows us to make money transfer a relatively seamless process.
On the outset, select the “Pay Anyone” icon and then “Send Money”. This will prompt us to log into our own account to show that we are the owner of the account, to do the appropriate transfers.
We can now transfer small amounts of cash without knowing our friend’s account number at all. The transaction is done via our friend’s mobile number, email or Facebook. Yes, Facebook.
We can then make the transfer, stating the amount (up to $1,000 per day). There are two security features, (1) passcode set by the sender, which should only be shared with the receiver; (2) a One-Time Password that will be used to confirm the transaction.
Once the confirmation is done, the receiver will receive an SMS to notify them that they can retrieve the cash into their account.
Perspective of the Person Receiving
Similarly, we will click on the “Pay Anyone” icon and select “Collect Money” instead. We will then choose the mode of receiving, (1) mobile, (2) email or (3) Facebook.
The amount that is received will be shown. Another amazing feature is that this amount can be deposited into other banks (non-OCBC). Hence, even if we are not OCBC users, we should still download this app for convenience purposes.
Once the transaction is done, the sender will receive an sms notifying that the receiver has already obtained the amount.
We Do Not Need To Search For Exchange Rates Anymore
Where would it be better to obtain current exchange rates from than a local bank? OCBC MA provides a function where we can calculate the exact amount of money required for certain currencies.
Read Also: Why I Stopped Withdrawing Money From The ATM
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