The rush towards mobile financial services is on, according to a new report from Juniper Research, which forecasts that some 612 million mobile phone users will generate more than $587 billion worth of financial transactions by 2011.

Juniper likens the rush by banks and mobile operators to deliver financial services to mobile devices to the "gold rush" of the 1990s when everyone was clamoring to deploy Internet banking services. The report, which calls the mobile phone the "fourth screen" for financial services, says that the device will soon be like carrying an ATM in your pocket.

A free white paper and info on purchasing the full report can be found here.