Tag: Switzerland mobile payments

Swiss banks may work with retailers to build a new mobile payments platform

| April 4, 2016

Large banks seek to maintain their position in the mobile commerce market

Five of Switzerland’s largest banks are in talks with retailers and SIX Group, a financial infrastructure provider, concerning the development of a new mobile payments service. Credit Suisse, PostFinance, Raiffeisen, UBS, and ZKB have begun open-ended negotiations with retailers Coop, Migros, and telecommunications company Swisscom seeking to band together and develop a  new payment platform that can compete with those coming from Apple, Google, and Samsung. The banks want to ensure that they have a strong position in the mobile commerce space, which is beginning to grow rapidly in Switzerland.

Consumers are becoming more active in mobile shopping, presenting retailers with new opportunities

Notably, UBS, ZKB, SIX Group, and Swisscom all have their own mobile payments services which have been available for some time. These companies believe that the mobile commerce market could be quite lucrative, especially as retailers become more involved in the mobile space. Many consumers are beginning to rely on their smartphones and tablets to shop for and purchase products, and they are beginning to migrate offline, using their devices to make purchases in physical stores.

Retailers may opt to continue using already well established payment services

Switzerland - Mobile PaymentsWhether or not the banks and retailers decide to work together on the development of a new payment service has yet to be seen. Some retailers have shown modest interest, but they may be more inclined to use already well established services that have become consumer favorites. Banks still want to maintain control of the growing mobile commerce space, however, and may opt to develop their own payment services in order to do this.

Banks want to be able to effective compete with tech companies in the payments space

Apple, Google, and Samsung have all developed their own mobile payments services. These services have been made available for some time, with Apple and Samsung only just beginning to move into the European market. Banks have shown support for these services, but they have also been somewhat resistant to their spread, as they want to retain their position in the burgeoning mobile commerce market without losing revenue to these companies.

SIX aims to bring a nationwide mobile payments service to Switzerland

| August 11, 2015

SIX and Swisscom to develop a new payment service for consumers

SIX, Switzerland’s financial infrastructure operator, has teamed with Swisscom, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the country, in order to expand mobile payments throughout Switzerland. The two organizations will be working with banks in order to establish a nationwide mobile payments service, which may help accommodate the growing demand for such a service coming from consumers. Many people are beginning to rely on their mobile devices to shop online, and companies like SIX and Swisscom have new opportunities to engage these consumers and find success.

New service will be based on Paymit mobile application

The new mobile payments service will be based on an existing application called Paymit, which was launched by SIX through a partnership with other companies earlier this year. The application acts as a peer-to-peer transfer service that allows users to send and receive funds using information stored in their Paymit accounts. The new mobile payments service will not only support online transactions, however, as it will also enable consumers to make mobile transactions in physical stores. This functionality is expected to go live in early 2016.

Bluetooth or NFC technology will power transactions made through the service in physical stores

Switzerland - Mobile PaymentsNFC technology is likely to play a role in the new payments service, as it has formed the backbone of mobile commerce for several years. NFC has been criticized in the past for having some security issues, but the technology is still used quite heavily when it comes to mobile payments. Bluetooth could serve as an alternative to NFC, but the mobile payments services is still in early stages of development and no technology has yet been settled upon.

Demand for mobile payments support continues to grow

Demand for mobile payments services has been on the rise in recent years. Large companies, such as Apple and Google, have already broken into this sector. For some, however, their payment services are not widely available outside of the United States. Despite this, consumers have found a wide range of mobile payments services that they have become interested in.