07/10/2011
By Scott Thompson
New VocaLink research shows global consumer demand for inter-bank payments in near real-time via mobile phones.
The Voice of the Global Customer research, taking into account the views of more than 10,000 consumers and SMEs, was conducted across five countries: the UK, Germany, Malaysia, Canada and the USA. It measures the international appeal of initiating immediate payments using a mobile phone and uncovers the key drivers in each country that will lead to mass adoption of the service.
Twenty nine per cent of respondents in Germany and 53 per cent of respondents in Malaysia are willing to pay per transaction to benefit from the speed, convenience and ease of use. Immediate mobile payments is the preferred method to pay an urgent bill or to transfer money to friends or family. Fifty three per cent of Britons and 46 per cent of Germans opted for mobile payments over cash, cheques or cards as a way of transferring money to friends or family and 44 per cent of Britons chose mobile payments to pay an urgent bill - this rises to 76 per cent in Malaysia.
Marion King, CEO at VocaLink, says: “Our research reflects the increasingly mobile and fast moving world in which we live. Consumers worldwide have come to expect instantaneous money transfer when making online transactions and further afield consumers are demonstrating a big appetite for innovation. To remain competitive and satisfy consumer demand, banks need to offer a fast, easy and convenient mobile payments service. With our existing real-time expertise in immediate payments through the success of the UK Faster Payments infrastructure, we have the ability to support financial service providers in the delivery of immediate mobile payments.”
