Rising popularity, convenience and security of mpayments to boost their use in the financial industry

According to a new white paper released by TSYS and titled “How European Issuers Can Thrive in an Ecosystem Defined by Tokenisation-Enabled NFC Payments’, consumers can benefit from the convenience and advanced security features of mpayment technologies, while merchants and issuers can potentially see higher-value card transactions, faster checkout and reduced fraud.

Data from Harris Interactive shows that six out of ten consumers believe smartphone payments will eventually replace both payment cards and cash. Payments facilitated by mobile devices reached EUR 196 billion globally in 2013 (GBP 154.10 billion), and the study projected that they would more than triple to EUR 604 billion (GBP 472.79 billion) by 2017.

TSYS’s white paper looks at the current state of in-store mpayments in the UK and other key European markets, and how certain important market factors, such as enhanced security, can propel mpayment adoption. It also explores the burgeoning opportunity for in-app mobile commerce.

The report highlights key actions European card issuers can take now to gain a competitive advantage with regard to mpayments. Issuers are encouraged to determine their m-wallet strategy, whether to build their own or support other pre-existing offerings and then developing “top-of-wallet” strategies. In many instances, the short-term answer will be to do both.