CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS, MOBILE WALLETS & WEARABLES – A CLASSIC MEDLEY FOR BANKING INSTITUTES TO MARKET
Do you notice Contactless payments, mobile wallets and wearable forming a perfect combination for a market shift in banking service channels? Absolutely! Technology is here and waiting for companies brave enough to earn it. As with any technological advancements – only the most innovative organizations, with a strong ability to adapt to changes, will be able to thrive in this new environment. So it is up to you to decide where you want to reside – within those who are actively planning changes and never want to miss any important opportunity?
Currently, we see 3 particular directions forming a unique blend which can be a source of competitive advantage for banks in the near future.
1. Mobile Payment Applications (like Mobile Wallets) - It is no secret to anyone that smartphone adoption is growing and will continue to grow steadily in future years. From 2007 until 2016 smartphone sales have grown at least ten times, from millions to billions of units sold worldwide. In fact, offering financial services through smartphones is not new and banks or other financial institutions have been doing it for years, but we are at the beginning of a complete paradigm shift. Many Financial institutions who considered smartphones only as an additional digital service to existing digital banking and financial services are changing their focus due to the emergence of mobile wallets. Customers now look to register once, make quick & secure payments for various used services and make instant peer-to-peer money transfers with the use of technologies such as HCE (Host Card Emulation), NFC and contactless payments.
InfrasoftTech’s QRys suite of solutions is based on an Omnichannel framework and has integrated mobile banking, mobile wallet, UPI, contactless and wearable payments solutions.
An Indian state-owned Financial Services Company uses InfrasoftTech’s QRys suite of solutions on a Hosted model. InfrasoftTech’s Mobile banking application enables the bank’s customers to execute digital transactions. The solution soon gained popularity to become the preferred medium of banking transactions for bank’s customers, which greatly contributed towards their focused digital journey.
2. Wearables (such as Smartwatches) - Another trend which is even more exciting in the current scenario is wearables. According to the recent Juniper Research, mobile & wearable contactless payments will hit $100 billion by 2018. A few years ago, banks and financial institutions were viewing their branches as the core banking service and mobile applications as a channel to access it. Now, in this new reality, mobile applications, have become the new core banking service and wearables will provide convenient access to it. Google may officially release its Android Wear 2.0 system this year. This system will not require pairing of your watch with a smartphone. With the Android Wear 2.0 release, wearable will become a completely separate device with its own web connectivity and play store with tailored applications specifically offered for Android Watches.
Imagine a situation when carrying your smartphone would be inconvenient (running/sports activities and others) and you have a Smartwatch, containing a light version of the mobile banking application. It could easily help you check your account balance, make quick payments, and even pay for the protein shake you stopped to buy by using nothing more than a watch.
3. Contactless Payment Technologies – Think of a world where you are able to use a single wearable device, for any financial service you need, without ever having to visit a bank branch. How convenient would it be? In fact, there are banks which already provide banking services that are 100% online, without having physical branches. DBS Bank, a leading bank in Asia, unveiled Digibank, India’s first mobile-only bank. A revolutionary offering, Digibank brings together an entire suite of ground-breaking technology – from biometrics to artificial intelligence (AI) – to enable customers to enjoy a whole new way of banking.
Host Card Emulation technology holds a much bigger potential. It is effectively added to mobile applications in order to facilitate in-store payments with mobile phones, by turning them into the contactless card. For the first time ever, customers can experience true digital banking through their smartphones – making money transfers, payments in store, opening and closing accounts and making investments – everything in a single application. According to the recent Global NFC Transaction Market 2016-2020 report, prepared by Research and Markets, the NFC transaction market is expected to grow by 50% over the next four years.
We live in an exciting and challenging world today. Every year more and more different technologies are emerging right in front of us. While for some of us it may seem very frustrating and overwhelming to cut through all the information, for others it might open an excellent and exciting opportunity for business growth and personal well-being.
InfrasoftTech’s Mobile Wallet Solution; core offering of our QRys suite of solutions has been honored as “The Best Mobile Wallet of the Year” at the Payments & Cards Summit 2017.