Mobile banking and payments could revolutionize the financial sector the same way that the ATM did, according to a January Juniper Research report "Mobile Financial Services: Banking & payment markets 2007-2011."

By 2011, Juniper predicts 612 million worldwide mobile phone users will generate over $587 billion worth of financial transactions.

Of that total, mobile payments are expected to generate $22 billion worth of transactions by 2011, through 204 million mobile phone users.

Juniper sees enormous potential in giving consumers the freedom to bank and make payments from their mobile phone.

"A combination of increased user demand and a desire from all sections of the MFS ecosystem to deliver intelligent applications and services has created an atmosphere that is both creative and pragmatic," says report author Alan Goode.