Mar 12
6
Mobile features have quickly become one of the leading characteristics that drive a percentage of the American population toward certain financial institutions. However, analysts say that while mobile wallet usage is expected to increase in the coming years, widespread adoption may still be inhibited by questions over safety.
For this reason, it’s imperative for financial institutions to be more vocal about the safety features mobile wallets offers its customers. Consumer protections that exist for credit and debit cards may not be the same as those that are attached to mobile payments. However, banks that clearly broadcast the safety measures in place for financial transactions made through smartphones may quell users’ fears, while highlighting the convenience of mobile features, according to a recent MarketWatch report.
A separate report issued by USA Today also raises the need for merchants, financial institutions and wireless providers to work together to make mobile payments more appealing to a broader demographic of users. Recently, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile USA developed a joint venture named Isis, which will allow Chase, Capital One and Barclaycard customers to upload credit and debit information into the Isis mobile wallet, USA Today reports. Isis CEO Michael Abbot says the collaboration will be an important step in providing a simplified process to consumers. In addition to allowing customers to tap their smartphones to pay for products, Isis also offers loyalty points, discounts and coupons.
“Today, when is the first time a merchant knows when you’ve been in a store? When you leave,” Abbott told USA Today. “Imagine now that on top of that they can interact and say, ‘tap in when you walk in the store and we’ll give you X, Y and Z.’ Ask consumers what they want and they will tell you what they have. Our job is to give them what they never knew they needed.”
Jan 12
25
As I’ve mentioned before, mobile banking is becoming one of the fastest-growing and most popular methods consumers utilize to manage their financial transactions. Although a sizable percentage of Americans rely on smartphones to complete their day-to-day transactions, experts say that mobile banking still has some challenges ahead to becoming more commonplace among users.
According to Javelin Strategy and Research’s Mary Monohan, mobile banking customers are using this platform in different ways, requiring banks and lenders to accommodate the shift and cater to different preferences. For example, Monohan notes that smartphone users prefer a more expedient and to-the-point visit when accessing their accounts, while those using tablets expect a more “interactive” and complete experience, she tells BankInfoSecurity.com’s Tracy Kitten in an interview.
Further, Monohan notes that educating consumers about mobile security features may be a significant step in attracting wary smartphone users to mobile banking initiatives. A separate study reveals that concerns over the security of mobile platforms were the No. 1 factor that may discourage individuals from adoption of this service. According to the study, 53 percent of respondents said they were apprehensive of security features.
“There’s a lot of misinformation out there and consumers are very curious about it,” Monahan told the website. “If you’re going to have a mobile-banking offering, you’ve got to have marketing efforts.”
There are a number of ways institutions can expand their mobile banking platforms and educate customers on its many features. Asking current customers about their perceived thoughts or experiences on mobile banking can be a good first step in knowing where to make changes. Using marketing strategies, such as email campaigns, social networking websites and traditional phone communication can also help banks extend more information about their particular service offerings.
Jan 12
18
You may be familiar with the experience of having cash “burn a hole in your pocket.” Well, it’s not just cash anymore – or credit cards, either. Digital wallets can also do damage to your wardrobe. And things are going to keep heating up.
Visa enters the fray
After shutting down Rightcliq, which it launched last year, Visa has just announced its entry (or reentry) into the wallet wars with V.me.
V.me is taking digital wallets in a different direction by storing payment information remotely – and securely – instead of on the phone itself, which is good because you stand a much better chance of losing your phone than you do of having your account hacked. Visa is promising bank-level encryption and multi-layer authentication.
Visa’s efforts may signal the start of a shift away from phone-based apps to mobile web-based technology, such as we’ve seen with cloud computing. The company already has several technologies in place that should allow it to successfully combine the reliability of its network with digital wallet functionality.
Another V.me advantage is that card information will never be shared with sellers. Remember the old days when you left an imprint of your credit card in the hands of a complete stranger every time you used it, along with your signature?
What Visa offers
Visa brings a lot to the table. It already has one of the world’s largest and most advanced processing networks. V.me will seamlessly integrate vendors into that network to provide simple, reliable checkout and payment solutions.
Vendors using V.me will have access to a single, integrated, online dashboard, allowing them to track V.me transactions, individual charge activity, transactions by day and month, purchases by category, and average and total revenue.
Visa’s future plans
In a combination of visionary thinking and playing catch-up (just a bit), Visa is also developing big things for the future:
Competition
But Visa is not alone in the field.
Prognostication
While I’m usually hesitant to look too far into the future, I’m willing to go out on a limb on a couple things:
The concept (at least) of cloud computing will continue to grow. Mobile devices will no longer store personal information, but will access it through highly secure networks – such as the one Visa has in place.
Smart phones will be ubiquitous and usage will continue to grow as long as there’s someone around to say, “There’s an app for that.” Mobile devices will be used for more and more activities, from watching streaming video to managing financial transactions, with complete security.
Sep 11
21
Google Wallet is officially here, and already the technology is showing a lot of promise. Check out this article from Mashable for some great insight into using Google Wallet, issues with privacy, and, of course, what comes next.