Starting next week, St George Bank customers who use the bank's mobile banking application will be able to make payments of "everyday amounts" to anyone, armed only with their mobile phone number. The recipient is alerted to the payment via an SMS message and directed to a website where they can input their BSB and account details to complete the transaction.St George's innovation is the latest sally in the mobile phone turf wars currently being fought by the major banks. According to IT analyst Gartner, demand for mobile payments is rising sharply - up 62 per cent this year to $US171.5 billion internationally, with Asia Pacific tipped to remain the biggest international market for mobile payments for the foreseeable future.ANZ with its GoMoney and Commonwealth Bank with its Kaching application have already staked their claims with iPhone mobile payment apps, while NAB and Westpac are also working on mobile phone payments systems. Unlike most other banks, which have concentrated their efforts on the iPhone to date, St George offers its mobile payment feature on iPhones, Android devices, Windows smartphones and even the BlackBerry.Travis Tyler, head of e-channels, said 1.4 million of the 5.5 million online transactions St George handles each month are now made on mobile devices. The bank expects mobile banking to eclipse other online banking transactions within 18 months - noting that 35,000 of its customers already interact with the bank via smartphones alone.