Tag: smartphone payments

Mobile payments are on the rise

The Mercator Advisory Group has released a new report concerning consumer payments and banking. The report highlights the growing popularity of mobile payments among the U.S. population, showing that mobile commerce is becoming very common among young adults and certain ethnic groups. Mobile payments are often considered a subject for the tech-savvy and given the fact that younger generations are growing up with a strong connection to smartphones and tablets, as well as other forms of technology, these people could be significantly more comfortable with the concept of mobile commerce than older adults.

Young adults show comfort with mobile commerce

The report shows that young adults show the strongest interest in mobile payments in the U.S. Approximately 75% of young adults are reported to have their own smartphones or tablets, compared to the 55% of adult households that own such devices. The report shows that young adults are very likely to use their mobile devices while shopping, using the technology available to them to find better deals or to find out more information on products they are interested in. Mobile payments are becoming a major interest with these consumers, many of whom believe that mobile commerce is significantly more convenient than traditional forms of commerce.

Mobile commerce platforms prove inclusive for wide range of consumers

Smartphone ownership is also growing among certain ethnic groups. Those of Asian, Latin, and African descent outnumber others when it comes to smartphone ownership. Moreover, these consumers have also expressed a great deal of interest and comfort with the concept of mobile payments. For many immigrants to the U.S., mobile payments are considered easier as many mobile commerce platforms can easily calculate currency conversions while also removing the need for physical currencies.

Security remains a major barrier for mobile payments

While mobile payments are gaining popularity, all consumers have expressed concerns regarding the security of their financial information. Mobile commerce is not only a realm for consumers, as it has proven quite attractive for hackers. The threat of having financial information stolen and exploited has led many people to be weary of mobile payments.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced that the transactions are taking off in the country.

According to a recent statement made by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the use of the financial institution’s mobile payments platform within that country has been gaining a great deal of ground.

The ease and convenience of the transactions have proven to be very popular in that part of Africa.

Dipo Fatokun, the director of the banking and payment system department at CBN, explained that mobile payments have been achieving a growing adoption rate in that nation. This announcement was made at the Mobile Money and Financial Inclusion: What’s the Next Big Thing day-long conference in Lagos, which was organized by the Brookings Institution of Washington D.C. and by Leeds Bryan International Limited.

It was also pointed out that as 4G internet service comes to Nigeria, this will only boost mobile payments use.

Fatokun indicated that CBN and mobile network operators had an ongoing agreement that made sure that mobile payments transactions could be maintained in a sustainable way, without hitches or outages. It was also indicated that as the country would soon be moving to 4G internet service, a broader network would be available from the current 3G in Nigeria.

In his statement, he added that “We in central bank on the issue of connectivity are at the last stage of an MoU signing with the Nigeria Communication Satelite (NICOMSAT) such that they would provide WIFI technology at various locations in Nigeria so that connectivity would be made easier.”

It was also explained by Fatokun that CBN has a focus on preventing transaction fraud in its mobile payments system through the use of an established electronic banking guideline which extends to transactions that occur over smartphones and tablets. He added that there are specifications for systems through which business must be conducted. It was also expressed that there are a number of technical details provided for how deployments can be made, and that smartphones do not have any specific security elements as is indicated by NCC, and that they would therefore not function over this channel.