First National Bank (FNB) has responded to concerns raised on the MyBroadband forums about the permissions requested by its mobile application for Android.<\/p>\n
In a statement sent to MyBroadband, Sahil Mungar from FNB Mobile and Connect\u00a0said that the FNB Banking App and RMB Private Bank App for smartphones and tablets gives users access to more than basic banking transactions.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsers can make and receive calls (VoIP calling), call FNB call centres and their banker for free, send messages, find branches and ATMs, view offers and deals, as well as monitor the stock exchange,\u201d Mungar said.<\/p>\n
He said the apps are designed and developed to run natively on each mobile operating system, and as such needs permission to access certain devices to make the experience easier and user-friendly.<\/p>\n
\u201cCustomers have asked about the permissions that the FNB Banking App and RMB Private Bank App request and we would like to explain why each of the permissions are needed,\u201d said Mungar.<\/p>\n
Used by the phone feature of the app to make free calls to FNB call centres, bankers and other FNB app users, or to call any number in your contact list at discounted rates. Also allows the client to purchase pre-paid or send money directly from contacts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Location<\/h3>\n
Used by the Geo Payments feature to let you pay someone within close proximity using GPS location, without exchanging bank details. It is also used by the branch and ATM locator to find the nearest location to you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
SMS<\/h3>\n
Used when linking an eWallet to the FNB app. A one-time PIN that is SMSed to you is read by the FNB app to authenticate your device. This is so you don\u2019t need to enter the one time PIN when making transactions on the App.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Phone<\/h3>\n
Used to make a call over your mobile operator network when the phone feature of the FNB app is unavailable, such as when you don\u2019t have good data network quality at the time of making the call.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Photos<\/h3>\n
Used by the messaging feature of the FNB app to send photos to another FNB app user that you are chatting to. Apart from in-chat multimedia you can also send money, airtime, data bundles or iTunes vouchers to the person that you are chatting to. FNB has patented its in-chat money transfer system<\/a> in South Africa.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Camera<\/h3>\n
Also used by the messaging feature of the FNB app to take a photo.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Wi-Fi Connection Information<\/h3>\n
This allows the FNB app to connect via Wi-Fi<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Device ID<\/h3>\n
This is used to identify the device when the app connects to FNB.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Mungar said that if customers have any further queries regarding the FNB Banking App they can contact their call centre on 087\u2013575\u20130362.<\/p>\n
Discuss the FNB banking app on the MyBroadband forum<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
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Online banking fraud shocker in SA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n
Over R150 million fraud losses prevented at FNB<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n