New platform formed through partnership between OTP Bank, MasterCard, and Cellum
OTP Bank has begun to roll out its new mobile payment service, called OTPay. The new service is being launched with the aid of Cellum and MasterCard. The companies announced their partnership in February of this year and have been working together to develop services that would be well received in the mobile commerce space. OTPay is developed by Cellum and adheres to standards devised by MasterCard. OTP Bank is responsible for the financial aspects of the service.
Service may be quite successful in Hungary, where mobile commerce infrastructure already exists
The service is expected to be particularly successful in Hungary, where it is being launched initially. The service will act as a sort of mobile wallet, allowing users to store a wide variety of financial information on a digital platform. The wallet can then be used to make purchases at physical stores and online. Stores, restaurants, and other establishments that are displaying the OTPay logo will accept mobile payments made from the service. Users will also be able to scan QR codes to conduct a purchase if they so desire.
Service makes use of cloud technology in order to secure transactions
OTPay makes use of cloud payment technology that is meant to secure the transactions that it facilitates. This means that merchants will not have direct access to a consumer’s financial information, but will still be able to receive payment from the consumer. The service also makes use of Cellum’s security technology, which is often used by banks and other financial institutions that adhere to very strict security standards.
Partnerships are becoming common in the mobile commerce space
Partnerships like that between OTP Bank, MasterCard, and Cellum are becoming quite common in the mobile space. The mobile commerce market is saturated and it is becoming more difficult for companies to stand out from amongst their competition. Partnerships can make it easier for these companies to reach consumers with their mobile commerce products. As more partnerships form in the mobile space, consumers stand to benefit from the products and services that these partnerships produce.
This represents a considerable increase in the amounts that banks were spending on this IT last year.
An Ovum report has just been released, in which its results have shown that retail banks around the world will be boosting their spending on technology by 3.4 percent, this year, which reflects a serious growth in the mobile payments sphere.
This will bring the total amount that banks intend to spend on IT up to $118.6 billion, worldwide.
The Ovum industry analysts released their forecasts that said that North America’s retail bank spending on mobile payments and other technologies will increase by 3.3 percent. Europe would be seeing a rise in its spending by 1.8 percent. It is Asia that will see the highest amount of spending growth, with an increase of 5.1 percent.
In the mobile payments and banking report Ovum stated that the importance of this channel is evident.
The business trends report indicated that mobile payments and banking would become a “clear IT investment priority in 2013” for retail banks. It also indicated that the amount of spending for all online channels would grow by 6.2 percent this year. That included smartphones, tablets, and PCs, alike.
Also included in the report, was the speculation that data privacy and credit risk management would be among the primary drivers of technology spending in terms of 2013’s mobile payments and online banking. It stated that the worldwide MIS investment would hit the $6.4 billion mark before the year is over. It also pointed out that banks in North America would be spending $2.3 billion in this domain, and this will represent 5.1 percent of the overall spending within that department.
Ovum’s release indicated that within that continent, the growth in the spending for technology was an indicator of increased efforts to reduce costs and to place more concentration on various digital channels and marketing efforts that would help those financial institutions to boost their revenue growth alongside customer satisfaction.
Ovum senior analyst for financial services technology, Jaroslaw Knapik, explained the predictions about mobile payments and technology spending by saying that “Whilst regulatory compliance has certainly fuelled a significant amount of the investment predicted in the forecast, it is by no means the sole driver,” adding that “The level of investment in digital channels gives a clear indication that banks are fully cognizant of the growing expectations of their customers, as well as the opportunities they present.”
