SAN FRANCISCO-A new report from Javelin Strategy & Research estimates that consumers transferred more than $195 billion in 2011 using online, mobile, and other electronic channels.
Person-to-person transfers accounted for $21.6 billion of the transfer market, while the bulk of transfers were made between individuals' own accounts, the Javelin research found.
Three primary contenders are vying for the top position supporting these transfers: PayPal reigns as the current market leader, but Fiserv's Popmoney and the clearXchange consortium pose serious threats with networks linking thousands of financial institutions (FIs) and consumers, the company said.
Popmoney connects 1,400 FIs and a potential 16% of U.S. banking customers through their existing online and mobile banking relationships. Similarly, clearXchange, a partnership among Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, represents 37% of the total U.S. banking market. In the past year, one-third of consumers made an online P2P transfer, while fewer than one-in-ten completed a mobile transfer, but the potential for both channels is continuing to grow.
