Banks to Expand Mobile Banking and Payments in 2012

Financial institutions (FIs) are moving beyond the basics to deliver increasingly sophisticated mobile capabilities, according to a recent Forrester survey which evaluated the plans of ten top-tier U.S. banks and credit unions.

“After several years of technology-driven expectations, mobile banking is finally seeing sustained traction in the United States, and banks have rolled out support broad enough to enable consumers with nearly any mobile device to access basic banking functionality,” said Brad Strothkamp, vice-president, principal analyst, eBusiness and Channel Strategy, Forrester Research. “As consumers gain confidence with the channel, their needs are shifting from simple functionality like account balances and ATM locators to transactions like bill payment and account transfers.”

The Forrester survey indicates that FIs are moving to meet these more transactional needs by delivering increasingly robust mobile banking and payment solutions: Read More »

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January 26, 2012 | alerts, Analysts, mobile alerts, mobile banking, Payments, remote deposit capture and Research | 0 Comments

Financial Companies Will Define Mobile Payments & Commerce

Mobile industry analyst Chetan Sharma recently published his 2012 Mobile Industry Predictions Survey of mobile industry insiders, which solicited the opinions of 150 mobile executives, developers and other industry “insiders” to gauge which mobile areas most bear watching in 2012.

Some interesting findings from Sharma’s survey are:

  • For the second year running, mobile payments and mobile commerce were selected as the top 2 “breakthrough categories” for 2012.
  • 60% of those surveyed said mobile payments would experience a breakthrough this year, and 40% said the same for mobile commerce.
  • Nearly 40% of respondents said financial institutions will drive the payments and commerce space, up from slightly more than 30% last year.
  • Despite a year of moves by mobile operators worldwide to control mobile payments, the number of respondents who believe mobile operators will control mobile payments actually dropped, from 17% last year to 12% this year.
  • Of mobile payment methods, proximity-based payments (43%) and selling goods via mobile phones (34%) were predicted to get the most traction in 2012.
  • More than 2 in 5 respondents believe that the mobile web will become more relevant when compared to mobile applications, while only about one-quarter believe that apps will continue to dominate.

FIs interested in learning how to define the mobile payments and commerce space should download the Clairmail white paper, Mobile Payments: Driving New Revenue from the Mobile Channel.

 

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January 25, 2012 | Analysts, Industry, Payments and Research | 0 Comments

Over 20% of Smartphone Users in Europe Access Bank Accounts via Mobile

This week, comScore and Telefónica Germany announced the results of the “Connected Europe” study, which highlights how smartphones and tablets are shifting media consumption in Europe.

With regards to mobile banking, the study shows that over 20% of smartphone users in Europe accessed their bank accounts with their mobile devices and 12% used electronic payment services to pay for goods from their mobile phone.

With increasing smartphone and tablet adoption rates, the financial services industry must prepare for significant disruption to the remote channel environment, particularly all-things digital (mobile, tablet, smart TV, etc.).

Ubiquity and mobility have never before been so relevant, and it represents an enormous opportunity for financial institutions that can understand and leverage this change in behavior to their advantage; those who do not work to understand this emerging reality risk being left behind.

Key findings from the study include: Read More »

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January 24, 2012 | Adoption, Analysts, Europe, mobile banking and Research | 0 Comments

The Value Of Mobile Payments Is Beyond Transactions

Forbes.com recently published the following article written by Carl Tsukahara, Clairmail’s Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President of Products:

Carl Tsukahara, Clairmail Chief Marketing Officer

In 2011, the mobile payments space had a wild ride:

  • Verizon blocked Google Wallet from the newest flagship phone of Android, the Galaxy Nexus, no doubt in support of Verizon’s own payments initiative with AT&T, T-Mobile and Discover called Isis.
  • PayPal was rumored to preparing its own mobile wallet service.
  • Square fundamentally changed its still-new model of transactions by introducing a mobile payments system that centers on the consumer-merchant relationship rather than the payment itself.

All of this comes at a time when there is no single standard for new mobile payments technology. Isis and Google are backing conflicting versions of the same technology (Near Field Communications, or NFC), and equally significant players like PayPal are going entirely different directions with cloud-based (rather than hardware-based) mobile payment initiatives. Square and Intuit have circumvented the traditional payments network with their own respective additions to the transactional process (Square’s reader and Intuit’s GoPayment device). Read More »

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January 23, 2012 | Byline, CM in the News, Opinion and Payments | 0 Comments

The Intersection of Mobile Banking and Payments: It’s About the User

Pete Daffern, CEO of Clairmail, recently contributed the following byline article to Bank Systems & Technology:

Pete Daffern, Clairmail CEO

At the start of last year, Forrester Research predicted that mobile banking adoption would stall if financial institutions didn’t begin implementing differentiated capabilities unique to the mobile channel. Mobile payments are one such capability and are steadily becoming a focal point in the race for mainstream adoption of mobile banking.

Forward-thinking FIs are implementing bill pay, person-to-person and remote deposit capture abilities to differentiate their mobile offerings and add convenience for their users.

User experience, more than any other piece of the mobile banking and payments puzzle, is what will define the success of mobile for FIs.

Where We Are Now

Mobile payments, as they stand now, remain a largely Wild West territory — carriers, credit card issuers, FIs and startups are all trying to navigate the channels needed to deliver compelling mobile products to their customers. The result is a mobile payments and banking ecosystem fractured in the eyes of consumers, with dozens of apps available promising to do the same things. Read More »

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January 19, 2012 | Adoption, Byline, CM in the News, mobile banking, Opinion and Payments | 0 Comments

Young Adults Trust Banks More Than Other Mobile Payment Providers

A recent study by Market Strategies International found that financial institutions (FIs) are trusted more than alternative payment providers when it comes to providing mobile payment services to the critical 18 to 34 age group.

  • Forty-six percent of consumers aged 18 to 34 said they would rather have a financial services company provide them with a mobile-payment service, while 27% expressed no preference, 17% said they would prefer to get mobile payment services from a technology company and 10% said they would prefer a communications company such as a cell-phone carrier.
  • Younger consumers also said they were more likely to begin using mobile payment services immediately when they become available. Twenty-four percent of respondents ages 18 to 34 said they would begin using such services “right away,” while 56% said they likely would use them eventually and 20% were unlikely to ever use mobile payments.
  • Asked to rank their trust in various companies for providing mobile payment services, 81% of total respondents that identified themselves as “fast-track” or early technology adopters put their bank first. Read More »
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January 18, 2012 | Analysts, Payments and Research | 0 Comments
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