As the year draws to a close it’s worth reflecting on some of the more interesting disruptions in payments we’ve seen this year. Highlights for me include …
The launch that will perhaps have the biggest impact on consumer payments over time was Apple Pay. Apple Pay takes a lot of the friction out of the transaction process and combines this with much improved security. Whilst it has got off to a fairly slow start in the US, once Apple starts promoting it via handset prompts and merchant acceptance improves, it will start to make a major impact. International expansion is scheduled for 2015 so it will be interesting to see which banks jump on board in the UK.
The roll-out of contactless card payments across the London Underground, following the move to cashless travel on buses, is probably the biggest boost to contactless payment adoption we’ve seen since contactless first emerged. This will help contactless payment become a more mainstream payment choice in the London region – I’ve already surrendered my Oyster card!
Moven in New York launched to the public and showed the rich functionality a digital bank can deliver to its customers via an app. Moven has since licensed its technology to Westpac NZ and TD Bank, showing the interest that traditional banks have in delivering an enhanced digital service. I’m hoping we will see a UK Moven licensee in 2015.
The launch of Paym in the UK marked the start of simple, ubiquitous, mobile, person-to-person payments. Being able to pay someone with just their mobile number (no more account numbers and sort codes) was something I imagined many years ago and it’s now a reality, at least for customers of the banks that have got round to launching; and launching both pay and receive (unlike my friends at NatWest!).
One of my personal favourites this year was discovering there is a bank in the UK that has over 180 branches, no counters and offers a service that combines the best of personal banking with decent apps. Handelsbanken must be the best kept secret in UK banking!
You can follow Jonathan on Twitter @sevendotzero.
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