Verizon Wireless has partnered with some of the nation's largest banks to offer mobile banking services in a move that could accelerate U.S. acceptance of financial transactions via handsets.

The wireless carrier has struck deals with banks such as Wachovia, SunTrust, FirstBank, Regions Financial, Synovus, Arvest, America First Credit Union and BancorpSouth to let customers conduct banking transactions via mobile phones. Firethorn Holdings LLC's technology powers Verizon's new offering.

"Over the last several years consumer applications have been migrating from the PC to the mobile phone," said Jeffrey Nelson, executive director of corporate communications at Verizon Wireless, Basking Ridge, NJ. "We have been driving that to make mobile phones more utilitarian for our customers."

Customers of Verizon-partner banks can now manage their accounts on-the-go in real-time for free with access to features such as account balances, transferring funds between accounts within the same banks and reviewing and paying bills.

Mobile banking is catching on in the United States, albeit only a tiny fraction of the population currently banks that way.

For example, Bank of America announced in November that it had attracted a record 500,000 active mobile customers only six months after introducing a mobile banking service to consumers nationwide (see story).

Additionally, recent research conducted by TowerGroup shows that the number of mobile banking customers will jump to more than 40 million by 2012 (see story). Also, by 2012, one-fourth of all mobile customers are expected to come from outside the online banking channel.

"The fact is that people keep their mobile phone whenever and wherever they are and we find that to be an invitation to offer more services like mobile banking," Mr. Nelson said.

The Firethorn application is already available on some Verizon phones such as the Chocolate, enV and the LG VX8600.

Firethorn styles itself as a mobile financial services enabler. The company integrates text- and application-based banking, bill payment, remote and proximity payments, coupons and marketing into an interactive system called the Mobile Consumer Wallet.

"We hope to add value to current customers and at the same time we want our innovations to steel customers from the competition," Mr. Nelson said. "For customers it's all about how do I bank where I am, when I want, without having to go to a physical place like a PC or bank. It's all about convenience and the mobile channel allows for that."