Obopay, a provider of mobile money services, announced an agreement with STAR Network, an organization that enables consumers to use their ATM / debit cards to obtain cash and make purchases quickly and securely throughout the United States.

According to company officials the agreement will enable Obopay to offer mobile money transfer solution with real-time capabilities that places the demand deposit account at the center of the transaction.

"Combining the STAR (News - Alert) Expedited Transfer Service with Obopay's Mobile Money for Banks enables exactly the sort of convenience and security we had in mind when we developed our offering," Julie Saville, vice president, STAR Network said.

STAR Network allows speedy transactions that are usually not possible with Automated Clearing House or “ACH” transfers, which take several days to process. With this service, financial institutions can offer a fast, secure and convenient way for their customers and members to send and receive money using their mobile phones, company officials said.  

"The joining of these technologies will allow consumers to securely send and receive funds with the immediacy they expect from their mobile phones, and it will enable financial institutions to quickly and easily bring the service to market," added Saville.

STAR issuers that receive STAR POS transactions already support STAR Expedited Transfer transactions. This transaction provides an easy participation of the financial institutions to add mobile money services without the need for core banking system integration, the company said.

The financial institutions of STAR are eligible to allow their customers to initiate both outbound and inbound Expedited Transfer transactions, so STAR cardholders can send funds to their own or other people's STAR accounts. They can also pull money from their STAR cards into another account. 

Obopay’s Mobile Money for Banks allows the banks to deploy their own bank-branded mobile money services. Launched in May, the service is designed to make bank accounts the anchor for mobile money transactions. It combines complete brand control and a full range of mobile transactions and applications with simple low-cost integration and deployment.

Mobile Money for Banks allows easy sending and transferring money and makes payment card acceptance available to everyone, company officials said. With this offering the financial institutions can quickly bring to market branded smart phone, Blackberry and iPhone (News - Alert) applications, as well as Mobile Internet, SMS and IVR services, and a full range of Web site capabilities.