Reuters is reporting that much-maligned-on-this-website cell phone carrier Cingular will be launching cell-phone based banking software in 2007.

Cingular “said a wireless banking application it is testing would let customers of participating banks view account balances, transfer funds and pay bills on their cell phones.

Spokesman Mark Siegel said Cingular hoped to launch the application commercially in early 2007. Cingular was talking to a lot of banks, but he did not name any potential partners or disclose whether the company had any firm commitments.

“We hope a lot of banks participate,” he said. “The early signs are very encouraging.”

Would any of you use this? Is this a feature that you feel like you need? It’s all part of a move by cell providers to push beyond talking (like with music and video downloads.) We’ve participated in a trial of Verizon’s Vcast and while it was neato, we didn’t really want to download music on our cell phone. Banking is more useful, but we have our doubts. Checking our account balance would be nice… as long as it’s faster than the 18 hours it takes to check movie times on a phone.— MEGHANN MARCO

Cingular plans mobile banking service for 2007 [Reuters]