Tag: mobile payments security

Smartphone and tablet banking has been suffering from the same worries from consumers.

Despite the fact that smartphone payments and banking services are being used by a growing number of people, mobile security concerns are keeping the rate of adoption at a notably lower level than its full potential.

This, according to the most recent report issued by the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

The report was issued by the bureau in its partnership with Viggle and with InMobi. They discovered that while smartphones and tablets are being used increasingly by consumers who are managing their money online, its adoption would be greater if certain barriers did not remain in the way. Among consumers, 58 percent regularly use the app from their bank, while 50 percent use the optimized website. That said, there remain a large number of individuals who hesitate to use these services due to mobile security concerns.

Mobile security has not yet proven itself to many of the potential users who have yet to be swayed.

According to the vice president and general manager for the Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Anna Bager, discussed the situation studied in the research when she said “Clearly, mobile users are leaning into their devices for personal finance assistance wherever and whenever they happen to have a need.”

However, Bager also pointed out that consumers are still worried over mobile security issues with this type of services, even though they are using them more than they have before. She explained that “Most financial apps already contain rock-solid security, but consumers seem not to be as plugged into that fact, and that knowledge gap can make all the difference in driving further usage and adoption.”

Bager said that mobile security is an area where financial services marketers should be placing a significant amount of their focus in the campaigns that they are planning. The supported this belief, as 52 percent of its participants said that they would require a concrete guarantee, even in the case that the device should be lost, before they would use a smartphone for payments and banking for the first time, or before they would increase their use for these activities.

Financial institutions becoming more invested in mobile payments

Financial institutions all over the world are becoming more interested in the concept of mobile payments. As consumers become more reliant on their smartphones and tablets, they are looking for new, more convenient ways to make purchases. Nearly everything that consumers do these days has some tie to the mobile world, making it more important for companies, like financial institutions, to cater to the demands of mobile consumers in order to remain relevant in a world that is changing around them.

Royal Bank of Canada takes a swing at mobile commerce

The Royal Bank of Canada has become one of the latest major financial institutions to begin embracing mobile payments. The organization has announced its entry into  the mobile commerce arena this week with the demonstration of a new touch-free transaction system designed for smartphones. The system, which is linked to a new application call Interac, makes use of NFC technology to allow consumers to purchase goods and services. The use of NFC technology allows a smartphone to be used as a payment platform without having to make actual physical contact with anything, as the technology transmits data over a short distance.

NFC continues to worry consumers

NFC technology has been a staple in mobile payments for some time, but many consumers are becoming increasingly wary of the technology. NFC has been linked to several security risks in the past and can be exploited to gain access to a consumer’s financial information. A growing number of companies interested in mobile commerce are choosing to forgo NFC in favor of simple mobile payments applications or, in some cases, the use of QR codes to activate mobile transactions.

Security may not be a problem with Interac application

The Royal Bank of Canada has taken note of the security concerns that consumers have in regards to their financial information and NFC technology. Interac features numerous security measures that are closely tied to the financial institution’s own security systems. The application is considered safe enough to use for mobile payments and if the Royal Bank of Canada can placate the fears of consumers, it may be able to beat out the competition it has in the Canadian mobile commerce sector.