A new survey shows that a third of the UK population believe payments made on a smartphone will become the most prevalent form of payments by 2020, outstripping transactions made by debit or credit cards. The survey is just one aspect of Experian's 'Banking moving forward' study. For mobile solution providers, it's an encouraging statistic - the idea of using a smartphone to complete transactions is starting to permeate, but there is still plenty of room for improving when it comes to convincing and educating the other two-thirds about the benefits of mobile payments.
For example, the survey also showed that 67 per cent of those surveyed feel cash usage will decrease by 2020. And furthermore, 41 per cent believe that credit and debit card usage will fall. So what is preventing those who believe both cards and cash payments will decrease, putting their faith in smartphones?
Experian's head of Business Solutions, Derek Garriock, said:
"People will certainly be faced with more choice in years to come with the payment methods and providers they choose. Their decision will ultimately be based on the ability to pay for something, securely, anywhere and at any time at their own ease and convenience."
The issue for mobile payments still remains the same. Consumer have security and fraud concerns when it comes to using their smartphone. Show me an example of a new technology that hasn't gone through the same security growing pains and I'll show you a video of an England penalty shoot out win (hint: they're both extraordinarily rare).
80 per cent of respondents however did say that secure online payment platforms, such as PayPal, which allow payments without sharing financial details would become more popular by 2020. This is where the education of consumers is so important. Mobile payments can achieve exactly the same, if not higher levels of security that these consumers believe certain online payments have achieved, they just don't know it. The perception of mobile payments has to be changed more than anything.
Secure Identity management is what we believe should be the basis of a mobile interaction solution. Ensygnia's core values address the main concerns holding back belief in the proliferation of mobile payments. What we try to do is put people's security and data back safely in their pocket. When it comes to payments, tokenization allows for transactions without the passing over of any sensitive financial information, whether that's online, in-store or on-the-go. A solution that puts identity and security at its core can go a long way to address and correct the negative security perception mobile payments needs to overcome.
By Matthew Taylor 11th February 2015
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