AT&T has launched a mobile banking platform nationwide that enables Wachovia and Sun Trust Banks consumers to view account balances and history, transfer funds and pay bills from their AT&T mobile handsets. The mobile banking service is part of a partnership between AT&T, Wachovia, SunTrust Banks and mobile banking firms Firethorn and CheckFree.

"The ability to perform banking functions using a wireless handset is attractive for people who need to make financial decisions on the go," Mark Collins, vice president for Consumer Data at AT&T's wireless unit, said in a statement. "Value-added services such as mobile banking and payments to the mobile device are part of our ongoing strategy to enrich the customer experience."

The mobile banking application will be pre-loaded on some AT&T handsets later this year. The mobile banking application is also available for download on more than 30 of AT&T's most popular handsets.

Enrolling in mobile banking service is similar to the online banking experience for most consumers. Customers first sign up at their financial institution's Web site and are issued a one-time initialization code. Customers use the code to link their account to the mobile application on their device. Customers then create their own PIN to provide secure access to the application. All data is encrypted, and customers can deactivate the service immediately if handsets are misplaced.

AT&T customers pay no additional fee to access mobile banking and, because the application resides on the handset, the service is optimized to reduce data charges.

Earlier this year BancorpSouth partnered with AT&T for mobile banking, and according to AT&T, adoption rates have been higher than expected and have resulted in a 15% traffic increase to the bank's Web site.