TAWPI @ NACHA Payments

Posted by Mark Brousseau

Historically, cash and checks have dominated as the primary means of settlement for person-to-person (P2P) transactions, but that has the potential to change rapidly according to new research released by NACHA and eCom Advisors in partnership with FIS and PayPal. The research was unveiled this morning at a breakfast press conference at NACHA’s PAYMENTS 2010 Conference at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle.

“Financial institutions and solution providers are increasingly seeking to leverage the ACH Network to enable their retail customers to conduct electronic P2P payments,” stated Janet O. Estep, president and chief executive officer of NACHA—The Electronic Payments Association. “This research adds to our understanding of consumer demand for this payment service.”

The February 2010 survey, completed by 1,180 active online banking consumers in the U.S., was designed to test consumer reaction to two new concepts. The first concept was using a P2P payment service offered within the online bill-payment applications of financial institutions. Nearly half (48 percent) of active online banking consumers are likely to use such a service, according to the research.

The research also investigated consumer interest in several different scenarios for P2P payments offered by financial institutions. Results concluded that:

… 33 percent of consumers are likely to use P2P payments to send money to a son or daughter at college;
… 31 percent are likely use P2P to send money out of the country to a family member, friend, or associate;
… 25 percent are likely to use P2P to split the cost of a gift with co-workers, friends, or family members.

The second concept tested in the research was an ePayment Portal, defined as a service provided by a financial institution allowing consumers to transfer money, pay bills, conduct P2P payments, and track all their money movement from a single place online. Nearly half of consumers (49 percent) expressed interest in the Portal concept. Of this interested population, 70 percent would likely use P2P payment services within the Portal.

Paul McAdam, a Partner at eCom Advisors stated, “We are very encouraged by the results of this research. Nearly half of today’s online banking consumers expressed interest in using a P2P payment service offered by a financial institution, and if the P2P service is integrated with a suite of money movement solutions within the online bill-payment application, consumer interest jumps significantly. This research provides significant evidence of a large pool of pool of likely P2P adopters.”

Another key finding is consumers who have already adopted mobile financial services likely will be the first adopters of financial institutions’ P2P payment solutions. Consumers who used their mobile phones to access their bank account or view or pay a bill within the past 30 days reported a likeliness to use the study’s P2P payment concepts at rates more than two times higher than those reported by the overall sample of active online banking consumers.

“Today’s active mobile banking consumes are clearly attracted to the notion of replacing cash and check transactions with P2P payments via their mobile devices,” stated McAdam. “In addition to targeting marketing communications to encourage this segment to adopt P2P, financial institutions should also integrate P2P payments with their mobile banking services.”

iPhone Users Doing Mobile Banking

Posted by Mark Brousseau

Mobile banking is quickly moving from a “techie” to mainstream capability that is changing how consumers manage their finances today, which in turn will change how consumers pay for goods in the future. That's according to a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research (www.javelinstrategy.com).

“Mobile banking is quickly moving from infancy to commonplace, which will help separate the winners from losers in banks’ ability to attract and keep technology-loving consumers,” said Mary Monahan, Research Director and Managing Partner. “Consumers are hungry for the ‘always-on’ and ‘real time’ ability to monitor and manage their money, and mobile banking serves that need better than any other.”

Among the findings of the report:

... Nearly half of mobile-phone owners currently have access to mobile banking today.
... By 2014, 45% of mobile-phone users will actually use mobile banking.
99 million U.S. adults will conduct mobile banking transactions at least once per year by 2014 – with 52% of mobile-phone users relying on smartphones.
... Mobile banking will rival online banking, with the former used as a “remote control” and the latter as a detailed form of control panel for more complex transactions.
... AT&T has the highest number of mobile bankers due to the iPhone’s influence, while Verizon Wireless has the lowest penetration for mobile bankers among the top tier U.S. wireless carriers.

“Mobile banking is quickly becoming an essential consumer capability,” said Mark Schwanhausser, Financial Services Channels Analyst. “Just as the iPod changed the music industry and their business models, our data shows that iPhone users are changing the banking industry by leading the way in monitoring and managing finances through mobile devices.”

What do you think? Post your comment below.

ET Phone Home

Posted by Mark Brousseau

Vijay Balakrishnan, president of StratEx LLC (770-598-5747, www.stratexllc.blogspot.com) passes along an article he wrote on the recent announcement by USAA that it will allow its customers to make deposits by iPhone:

Mobile phone cameras have captured images of everything from election protests in Iran to the recent tragic collision of a helicopter and a small plane over the Hudson River. So, what could one possibly add to the list of things that would intrigue mobile shutterbugs? With apologies to Mr.McGuire in the movie The Graduate, "I have just one word for you. Just one word.....checks."

The recent announcement from USAA, allowing its customers to make deposits by sending images of checks taken with their Apple iPhones, brings together technologies from the 19th and 21st centuries. Until the advent of Check 21, the movement of deposited funds depended on the physical transport of paper. An extensive retail branch network was developed to act as collection points for deposited paper. USAA, which serves 7.2 million active and retired members of the U.S. military and their families from one branch in San Antonio, has consistently used technology to turn conventional wisdom on its head. Three years ago, it announced its Deposit @Home service that allows customers to make deposits by sending images of checks scanned at home. Despite early scepticism from many, USAA claims 150,000 users. The addition of mobile smart phones takes the remote capture notion even further.

In addition to this announcement, mobile deposit technology provider Mitek Corporation has announced relationships with Fiserv, RDM, NCR, and J&B Software to take the capability to their customers. As these formidable players get past their pilots and launch offerings, we will likely see more financial institutions make mobile deposit services available.

What about fraud, you say? Doesn't Check 21 require account and transit information to be read magnetically to ensure security? While I admit that the prospect of sensitive check images flying through the air can be unnerving, and there are issues of authentication, privacy and data integrity that need to considered (another post, another day), the fact is that there is no regulation that requires that the magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) information be read magnetically. In fact, Check 21 is silent on the subject. Thus absent regulation, it falls to the individual financial institution's tolerance for risk, versus the obvious convenience of the service.

There are two factors that can mitigate risk to some extent: the old dictum of knowing your customer (KYC), and the option to delay funds availability until the check has cleared. I believe we will see the adoption of mobile deposit capture in defined communities such as the USAA customer franchise, where the financial institution has a very good idea of risk exposure. Credit unions with well defined memberships are more likely to offer this service than banks (and like USAA, most credit unions are also not extensively branched allowing them to make virtue out of necessity). We will likely see the service offered to the "safest" customers first, based on their deposit history, followed by a gradual expansion using funds availability agreements as a tool to calibrate exposure.

The banking community at large has a different challenge. Deposit acceptance is arguably the raison d'etre for large retail branch networks. Remote capture in general, and mobile deposit in particular, poses an interesting channel conflict paradox (see BAI Insights for a summary of a presentation I did with Bob Meara from Celent on the RDC/Branch paradox). Thus, my take is that banks (particularly the larger ones) will perceive mobile deposit as a bridge over troubled waters and be reluctant to put their branch network at risk.

While I don't see the airways saturated with check images from mass deployment, I believe mobile deposit will do well through niche (not necessarily small) adoption. Technology providers, transaction processors, and financial institutions all have different but related niche marketing challenges ahead. Astute target market selection will likely govern success. The alignment of factors like service and product features, pricing (ex: who pays for the data plan for zapping all those images, and what's the payback?), as well as path-to-market partnerships, are imperatives to be carefully considered.

What do you think? Post your comment below.

Mobile Commerce Trends

By Mark Brousseau

Some interesting facts from the pre-conference workshop at the Third Annual Mobile Commerce Summit at the M Resort Casino & Spa in Las Vegas on Wednesday:

… Banks that think they are going to fund their mobile initiatives through advertising had better think again, according to Bob Gilbreath, chief marketing strategist, Bridge Worldwide, an interactive and relationship marketing agency. “Mobile ad interruption will not be tolerated,” Gilbreath said, noting that 72 percent of Americans have registered on the Federal Do Not Call list. What’s more, service providers fear losing $50 per month customers in exchange for pennies per ad unit, he said.

… Smartphone users spend less than 5 minutes online per session, Gilbreath said.

… People who write down how they will use a new product are 50 percent more like to use it, according to a study by Proctor and Gamble.

… Young consumers are spending less time in traditional “online” environments, Gilbreath said.

… The Berg Institute says there were 3.1 million mobile banking households in the United States last year – up from 400,000 households in 2007. The Berg Institute estimates there will be 7 million mobile banking households by the end of 2009.

… 50 percent of all calls to bank customer service centers are from mobile phones, and will rise to 70 percent in 2010, according to Celent. Many calls are simple balance requests, Celent notes.

… As of January, 2009, Bank of America had 1.9 million mobile banking users – up from 1 million users in June, 2008. On peak days, Bank of America has 100,000 mobile banking users.

… Only 40 percent of a retail bank’s customers are profitable, finds the Council on Financial Competition.

What do you think? Post your comments below.