More major banks and large corporates are investigating how they can use mobile payments as part of their main business strategy, a new report from KPMG has revealed, with many believing that the technology could become mainstream in the next few years.
The report comes as the Commonwealth Bank announced updates to its banking app suite and hinted at a rollout of near field communication technology soon.
“You can expect to hear more from us about NFC very soon,” says Commonwealth bank general manager of channel marketing Andrew Murrell.
Those comments come days after ANZ said it would be taking a wait and see approach to rolling out NFC after it concluded a trial using iPhones to make payments.
The KPMG Monetising Mobile survey shows that more than 80% of the 150 major banks and corporate companies questioned are examining how they can introduce mobile payments, which includes the use of NFC.
“It seems clear from our research and our firm’s extensive experience that mobile payments are set to transform the banking industry,” KPMG said.
“For banks that are still standing on the sidelines of the race for mobile payments solutions this is a critical juncture – continued delay may risk the loss of market share.”
KPMG head of banking in Asia-Pacific Andrew Dickinson says non-traditional players are shaking up the market.
“We’ve had a few interesting announcements from companies such as Google in recent months showing these non-traditional players are moving. Executives are very much up to their armpits in strategies for mobile,” he says.
Google recently released its Wallet feature, which will allow users to make payments on NFC-enabled phones at retailers using the MasterCard contactless technology.
“We think this is going to change the market quite significantly,” Dickinson says.
But the KPMG report points out that many banks and major companies remain sceptical of these types of payments and want to wait until consumers are more ready for them, with Dickinson saying the time is approaching when banks and businesses will need to step in.
“Clearly businesses have to bit the bullet on that one, because consumers will be demanding it,” he says.
Dickinson says pressure from non-traditional players such as Google and possibly Apple with its rumoured inclusion of NFC in a future iPhone would make banks and other companies move in the direction of mobile and contactless payments.
The tech giant has showed it is willing to adopt new methods of payment – it advertises Jack Dorsey’s Square mobile payments service in the US and Apple Store staff use modified iPods to register payments.
“Mainly the prodding from those players that will force others to innovate in the field,” Dickinson said.
“One of the potential benefits will be that we can finally do away with cheques.”
Murrell says the Commonwealth Bank’s mobile banking strategy will be a big focus during the next few years.
“From an online point of view it’s going to get a lot of emphasis. Over the past year we have seen phenomenal growth, over 350% for mobile logins,” he says.
“I think we can see that technology like NFC is an enabler. Coupling that type of tech with smartphones is a great experience and there is an opportunity for us to create a great banking experience.
“Yes, we are focusing on NFC and you can expect to hear more from us soon.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
