A Novel Mobile Transactional Payment Banking Scheme

A novel real-time mobile payment (MOP) system that utilizes mobile phones together with interactive voice response technology (IVR) is proposed. The system consists of a communication network built upon existing banking infrastructures, thus minimizing the cost of adoption by banks. A sender or receiver communicates only with his/her bank, using a regular mobile phone, and banks talk to each other through a central authority, which acts as a broker. The communication of each component with other components in the system is clearly specified. Provision is made for the security of the whole system, making use of existing security arrangements between each participating bank and its customers, as well as established security practices of the banking industry. Rollbacks of transactions are also available. Our scheme aims to achieve a high level of security without sacrificing efficiency, have a reliable infrastructure, minimize the overheads on all stakeholders and result in time savings in implementation and marketing. Through our scheme, all bank services involving transfer of funds between participants will become readily available anytime and anywhere, regardless of the availability of Internet or smart phones. For example, a user of the system will be able to pay for purchases, transfer money, track payments, and receive money in real time, alleviating the need to carry cash or credit cards. Keywords: Communication network, real-time mobile payment, M-commerce, Interactive Voice Response, protocol, transaction, security