James Gardner recently posted his thoughts on HSBC’s lack of mobile banking, Â and in his post mentioned that you should be able to access your HSBC bank account using the Natwest iPhone app.
Whilst this might sound a little strange, it’s all made possible by the Monitise mobile banking platform.
The NatWest app, by the way, is pretty lacking in functionality, and it is based on the generic service that banks in the UK get from Monetise. They’re the same people that run the Link ATM network, and apparently the app uses that transaction network to get its data. In other words, there’s no integration or effort required to get the Monetise app to work for a particular bank, and is the reason that I can use my HSBC accounts in the NatWest version.
I haven’t tried it myself, but it should work. Monitise also make dedicated iPhone apps for the other banks within the same group as Natwest, RBS and Ulster Bank.
James’ post also has an interesting discussion about innovation in mobile banking in the comments, worth reading if that subject interests you.
More iPhone personal finance apps.
Update 17/01/2011: The comments seem to suggest this method doesn’t work (or certainly not for all). Whilst there’s still no sign of a HSBC iPhone app, HSBC subsidiary First Direct now has its own iPhone app, so HSBC customers might not have to wait  for too much longer, as there’s a chance that the technology behind the app will be used to develop an HSBC app.
