Author: JT

Report highlights the growing power of mobile payments

The popularity of mobile payments is growing in the United Kingdom and the United States. Citigroup and the Imperial College of London have released a new report shows that consumers in many countries are beginning to favor mobile payments when they shop digitally. This is particularly true in the U.S. and the UK, as more consumers are beginning to use their mobile devices to purchase products online. As such, they are becoming increasingly reliant on new payment services that allow them to make purchases online and in physical stores.

Consumer attitudes are affecting the adoption of new payment services

While more consumers have been opting to use their mobile devices to make payments, adoption of mobile commerce has been slow in 2015 overall. Consumer attitudes kept many people from making use of mobile payments services and these attitudes were swayed by security concerns. Many believe that their personal information is at risk when they use new payment platforms, which leads them to avoid mobile payments altogether. the report also suggests that there is a culture barrier preventing the widespread adoption of mobile payments.

UK banks are finding success with their own payment platforms

Banks in the United Kingdom have reported a surge in the adoption of new mobile payments service over the past few years. Barclays has its own mobile platform, called Pingit, which now accounts for 1 million transactions as of January of this year. This is an increase over the 100,000 transactions it had been responsible for only one year ago. Payment services in the U.S. have seen similar growth, especially due to the availability of new services like Apple Pay and Android Pay.

Consumers want more security from their mobile payments services

The mobile payments sector is still considered quite young. As such, there is room for growth in its various aspects. For consumers, security remains one of the most important priorities. If services cannot protect their financial information, consumers are unlikely to make use of them. These consumers also want more value added to the mobile payments services they are interested in. This may be accomplished through stronger support for loyalty programs.

The mobile payments service has just stepped into the Spanish marketplace through CaixaBank.

Consumers in Spain now have a new opportunity to use mobile payments, as Samsung Pay has rolled out its service in the country, following a deal that has brought it its first support from financial services in the country in the form of ImaginBank, a subsidiary of CaixaBank.

This will make it possible for customers with certain models from the brand to pay using their smartphones.

As of yet, mobile payments have not been tremendously successful in the country. Some banks have already attempted to offer their support to Apple Pay, but when it actually came to enabling the service with their cards and point of service readers, they have appeared to be less motivated. Yet, Samsung Pay has managed to obtain the support of CaixaBank and it has become immediately effective.

A press release has confirmed the partnership between the bank and Samsung Pay for Spanish consumers.

The bank released the PR in order to reveal that it has become the “key partner” with Samsung in its mobile payments in terms of its “promotional campaign strategy.” In this strategy, there will be 700,000 consumers across the country who will have immediate access to this m-payments service.

The bank has expressed a considerable amount of enthusiasm, which is being seen as a nod to the potential that comes along with mobile payments platforms such as that with which it has just connected itself. When taking into consideration that the bank already owns its own mobile payments service called CaixaBank Pay, which launched last September, it is quite notable that it is as involved as it is in this second option, as well.

The bank stated that supporting Samsung Pay is a demonstration of its dedication to “developing its payment method innovation strategy with the aim of incorporating the latest global trends in its offer.” This is also being seen as a positive move for Samsung’s mobile wallet, which has been working hard to try to keep up in the race against its top rival, Apple Pay. The Apple wallet has also been spreading into new markets worldwide. It’s expected that the service will also be seen in the U.K and China, before long.