While mobile banking has become normal for the majority of Americans, mobile payments remain less ubiquitous in the U.S.
To change that, merchants and consumers are going to have to find a way out of the “chicken-and-egg” syndrome that is slowing adoption, a report released last week by Federal Reserve Bank of Boston found.
While 89% of the report’s FI respondents are currently offering mobile banking services to their customers—and 97% of these 706 FIs plan to offer them in 2018—only 24% are presently offering mobile payment services.
Only 40% of these FIs plan to offer mobile payment services within the next two years, the report found, though FIs are continuing to add support for leading mobile wallets like Apple and Android (now Google) Pay.
Slow mobile payment adoption could be due to the fact that both merchants and consumers are frustrated with the other’s lack of ability to use or accept them, says the report, writing:
…while there are only five or six mobile/digital wallet models in the U.S., the lack of ubiquity and number of solutions create fragmentation. Consumers are often confused and frustrated by the absence of consistent practices, which discourages repeat use and hinders higher adoption.
Take a look at the full report here.
Learn more about mobile banking and payments at Bank Innovation 2018 in San Francisco on March 5-6. Request your invitation here.