Financial institutions should enter m-payment market otherwise it will be busy

A report titled “Mobile Person-to-Person Payments: Mounting Telco Activity in a Mobile Channel Segment That Financial Institutions Can’t Afford to Lose” and issued by Javelin Strategy & Research found financial institutions should better launch person-to-person mobile solutions before carriers capture the market.

13 merchants were included in the Javelin ‘s survey: Affinity Global Services, CashEdge, Fundamo, M-Via, MasterCard Mobile Money Send, mCheck, M-Com, Monitise, MPayy, Obopay, PayPal, ZoomPass, and Western Union. Javelin categorized the vendors within five classifications: Ecosystem Developers, Partnership Opportunities, Stand Alone Solutions, Bank-Oriented Solutions, and Carrier-Oriented Solutions.

According to Javelin Strategy & Research representatives, the opportunity for mobile P2P is growing faster than it was expected as the conditions are growing ripe for potential widespread consumer use of mobile devices to send payments between one another. IT was found, 17% of consumers currently use smartphones, while mobile banking is used by many, and use of the internet for banking and shopping has been common for years.

It was also found that the number of consumers using mobile P2P payments and transfers has grown significantly to 26 million, with 6 million people expressing interest since 2008.

Key Findings of Mobile Person-to-Person Payments Report include:

• Smartphone adoption has almost doubled in the past year. 

• About 30% of online consumers with mobile phones and around 25% of online consumers have an interest in using mobile P2P payments.

• Sending and receiving money quickly are cited as the primary motivation by consumers to engage in mobile P2P. 

• Bank-oriented products from vendors such as CashEdge and M-Com are currently best positioned to emerge as the dominant solutions for mobile P2P. 

• The future success of ZoomPass in Canada could drive further activity on the carrier side and provide a wake-up call to financial institutions.