What's New in Payments

ANZ reports surge in mobile wallet transaction volumes

Mobile wallet spending surges over holiday period — ANZ Bluenotes — “ANZ data show a significant rise in the volume of mobile wallet transactions in December 2017, up 140% on the previous corresponding period… In December ANZ customers favoured their smartphones and wearables for 4.5% of all transactions, compared with 2% for the same time last year. ANZ data show mobile wallet transactions reached 3.9m in December, compared with 1.6m in the same month in 2016.”


What's New in Payments

Six in ten Chinese consumers have experienced a mobile payments security threat

Quick take: Mobile payment fraud rises in China, report finds — Caixin — “A China UnionPay survey of 105,000 people found that 60% had been exposed to some kind of mobile payment security threat, including information leaks, fraud or malicious attacks… Nearly 30% of users reporting mobile payment fraud said QR codes were involved, up from 15% last year.”


What's New in Payments

One in five Brits to make mobile payments in stores this year

UK: Mobile payments still looking to grab a foothold — eMarketer — “Just over 22% of UK smartphone users will use a phone to pay for goods and services at the point of sale (POS) in 2018… China has the largest mobile proximity payments market in the world, with 77.5% of smartphone users doing so this year. Within Europe, the UK’s smartphone penetration rate will rank behind Norway (23.3%), Sweden (33.8%) and Denmark (38.9%) in 2018.”


What's New in Payments

Boston Fed: One in four US financial institutions now offer a mobile payments service

Survey: Retail mobile banking nearing universal adoption, mobile payment offerings accelerate — Federal Reserve Bank of Boston — “Implementation of mobile payment services is accelerating as financial institutions respond to competitive pressure and the industry momentum for mobile payments: In addition to the 24% already offering mobile payments, 40% plan to do so within two years. Additionally, more than two-thirds of respondents partner or plan to partner with third-party processors and more than half are considering a partnership with a near-field communication (NFC) wallet provider.”


What's New in Payments

Bank of England puts a hold on research into issuing its own digital currency

Bank halts crypto-currency plans over stability fears — FT Adviser — “The Bank of England (BoE) has been researching the possibility of launching its own digital currency to rival bitcoin, but fears about the impact on the wider financial system means it has no ‘current plans’ to do so… If the central bank launched a digital currency of its own, it worried consumers would stop using commercial bank accounts and, instead, have a bank account with the Bank of England, and choose to use digital technology to purchase goods and services over paper money.”


What's New in Payments

Alipay reports mobile payments adoption stats

Mobile devices handle some 80% of Alipay’s online payments in 2017 — ECNS — “New data from Alipay show 82% of the transactions on its platform in 2017 were made through mobile devices, mostly smart phones. This ratio is said to be an all-time high… There were 520m Alipay users in China, or around 37% of the country’s population, in 2017… More than 40m small retailers across China, according to Alipay, established their own quick response codes in 2017… Bus and subway networks in more than 30 Chinese cities began allowing passengers to pay fares via Alipay through 2017.”


US survey finds growing support for biometrics as a replacement for passwords and PINs

Visa survey reveals consumers are ready to say goodbye to passwords — Visa — “Seventy percent of respondents find biometrics easier than passwords and 61% consider it faster. Fewer than a third of consumers use unique passwords for each of their accounts. Fifty percent of consumers responded that the top benefit of using biometrics is eliminating the need to remember multiple passwords or PINs, followed by 46% who said that biometrics is more secure than passwords or PINs for verifying identity.”


What's New in Payments

Consumers to make 500bn card payments in 2022

Global card payments set to rise by more than half to 500bn by 2022 — RBR — “We have observed impressive growth in card usage across the globe. In developing markets, rising levels of card acceptance and consumers’ growing familiarity with using cards rather than cash as a payment tool, have contributed to high growth. Meanwhile, consumer usage of contactless technology for ever smaller amounts is bolstering growth in more mature markets.”


What's New in Payments

Six in ten card present transactions are now made with an EMV chip card

59% of card-present transactions globally use EMV chip technology — EMVCo — “58.9% of card-present contact and contactless transactions globally were EMV-enabled between July 2016 and June 2017. This represents an increase over the prior year, when 42.4% of transactions were EMV-enabled… The United States experienced the largest year-over-year increase, with 31.4% of transactions being EMV-enabled, compared to 7.2% in the same period the prior year.”


What's New in Payments

One in three ‘connected consumers’ in India now use mobile payments

Kantar TNS study reveals the rise of mobile payments in India — Kantar TNS — “Mobile payments have seen a sharp rise with one in three (35%) connected consumers in India using it. The popularity of mobile payments in India is also revealed by the number of regular users, with 23% saying they use mobile payments at least once a week. The results of the study showed that India (35%) is ahead of other APAC countries like Indonesia (9%) and Philippines (7%) but has still a lot of catching up to do with the likes of China (94%) and Singapore (65%) where mobile payments have become a more regular habit.”


UK consumers split 50:50 on willingness to share personal data with banks

NCR research highlights consumer desire for innovative banking services in the UK — NCR — “Nearly half of respondents (47%) with personal bank accounts would only feel comfortable with banks collecting the bare minimum of data required to run their accounts… 49% were interested in banking loyalty programs in partnership with retailers requiring third-party data sharing. 46% were open to financial advice services that keep track of their spending information to help save money.”


What's New in Payments

ECB survey finds cash still dominates payments in the euro zone

Euro zone consumers still addicted to cash when they buy — Reuters — “Cash still dominates consumer payments in the euro zone, even as many Western economies are rapidly moving towards electronic payments, a survey published by the European Central Bank showed on Friday… The figures indicate that the euro zone is one of the slowest among big Western economies in giving up cash, trailing countries like the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada.”


What's New in Payments

Chatbots to issue over 1bn coupons a year by 2022

Digital coupon redemptions to surpass $90bn by 2022 — Juniper Research — “Juniper has quantified the volume of chatbot coupons as 25m this year, with this set to reach 1.1bn by 2022. The technology will enable greater personalisation of offers; particularly through use via social media, and at a fraction of the cost of using human operatives, and will aid in driving commerce transactions both online and in-store… Mobile will account for nearly 80% of all coupon redemptions by 2022.”


What's New in Payments

Auriemma reports 5% dip in mobile payment usage in US stores

Security concerns and problems at the register continue to depress mobile pay usage and net promoter scores — Auriemma Consulting Group — “Many Pay users run into problems at checkout… Half of those who had problems at a retail location that accepts mobile payments say the issue made them use the service less often overall… In fact, 45% of in-store Pay purchasers quit trying to use mobile payments entirely, and use a physical card instead.”


What's New in Payments

UK contactless card users neglect to check the transaction amount

Consumers ‘not checking’ contactless purchases — Retail Systems — “More than three quarters (76%) of Britons have used contactless payments and 40% now make half or more of their card payments using contactless. However, nearly half (48%) are not always checking the amount before they tap to pay. Young people (those aged 18-34) are the least likely to check the amount before paying, with only four in ten (39%) doing so every time they pay. Customers aged 55 or over are more vigilant, with 62% saying they check the amount every time they use contactless.”


What's New in Payments

China and India to drive growth in digital transactions

Digital payments volumes continue to rise globally as new payments ecosystem emerges — Capgemini — “Global digital payments volumes are predicted to increase by an average 10.9% through to 2020, reaching nearly 726bn transactions, according to the World Payments Report 2017… Volumes generated by emerging economies will grow by 19.6%, or three-times the rate of mature economies. Emerging Asia, led by China and India, is projected to grow 30.9%.”


What's New in Payments

Chinese mobile payment volumes top US$3tn in Q2 2017

China’s third-party mobile payment market continues rapid expansion — Xinhua — “In the second quarter of 2017, third-party mobile payment transactions amounted to 23tn yuan (about US$3.46tn), up 22.5% from the previous quarter… Alipay, Alibaba’s mobile payment service, led the market with a 53.7% share, followed by Tencent Finance, with a 39.1% share.”


What's New in Payments

US consumers continue to rely on cash for payments

Cash is still a constant for US consumers — Glory — “84% of US consumers would still like the option to pay by cash while 63% feel it is the most secure way to pay… 61% of Americans trust cash more than mobile payments and 55% favor it over cards respectively. Convenience also plays a key role in consumers’ choice of payments, with 87% wanting the option to pay with cash in all transactions… 64% of consumers use cash the same amount or more than they did a year ago.”


What's New in Payments

Cambridge academics report on cryptocurrency market status

Global Cryptocurrency Benchmarking Study — University of Cambridge — “This is the first study to systematically investigate key cryptocurrency industry sectors by collecting empirical, non-public data. The study gathered survey data from nearly 150 cryptocurrency companies and individuals, and it covers 38 countries from five world regions. The study details the key industry sectors that have emerged and the different entities that inhabit them.”


What's New in Payments

Mobile payments rise in popularity, reaching tipping point in some countries

Mobile payments rise in popularity, reaching tipping point in some countries — ACI Worldwide — “17% of US consumers now regularly use their smartphone to pay, up from 6% in 2014… In Europe, Spanish consumers are the most active users of mobile wallets, with 25% using them regularly, followed by Italy (24%), Sweden (23%) and the UK (14%). India tops the list of countries surveyed, with 56% of consumers saying they pay with a smartphone regularly”.