If the first decade of the 21st century was marked by universal adoption of the mobile phone, the second will see the mass take-up of an even more powerful technology - the always-on, service-rich mobile internet. And banks cannot afford to ignore it. People won't just use the mobile web to check account balances - they'll use it to book, pay for and receive event and transportation tickets, to make contactless payments, and to transfer funds.

Many retail banks consider mobile "just another channel". By contrast, Japan's Jibun Bank is a mobile-only operation that has seen phenomenal growth since its launch in June 2008. Everything its customers want to do - from opening an account to arranging loans - they can do on their phone.

We'd be foolish to think this won't happen in other markets. Indeed, there are already some examples: UK start-up MoBank combines the capability for a customer to view his or her bank accounts with mobile shopping for train tickets, DVDs and more. And major players - such as Barclaycard with OnePulse and its plans to launch contactless mobile payments in conjunction with Orange before the end of the year - are pushing to make this method the choice for consumers for low value purchases.

In Africa, banks are being supplanted by mobile network providers, most notably by the M-Pesa service on the Safaricom network, which has captured 6.5 million previously "unbanked" customers by offering them the ability to make secure money transfers via SMS.

So how should more traditional retail banks ensure they aren't blindsided? Many need to rethink their mobile strategy. But they also need to collaborate - getting up to speed will require access to technology and experienced service partners. Because those banks that fail to act at the start of this decade may have kissed goodbye to their retail banking heritage by the end of it.

• Alan Edwards is a consulting director at Fujitsu UK & Ireland.

A longer version of this article appears here.

Data feed

• ABI Research predicts that, by 2015, 407 million people worldwide will use their mobile phones for banking transactions.

• A report by SJB Research claims the first countries to adopt near field communications as a means of using mobile phones to make small payments will include, from 2011: UK, France, UAE, Taiwan and S Korea.