BROOKFIELD, Wis.-The next big thing credit unions needs to be ready for in mobile banking will be integrating the mobile channel with social media.
Though security concerns related to transacting financial services over social media has kept this integration from exploding the way straight mobile banking has, Fiserv VP-strategic marketing for digital and electronic payments Steve Shaw said that advances in this area could come with the year.
Facebook, for example, currently allows users to give gifts to their friends via Starbucks and other merchants, and Shaw said that Fiserv's popmoney P2P service is working on expanding to Facebook to function in a similar manner.
Shaw said that Fiserv has discussed that project with some FIs, but that no details have yet been confirmed about participating CUs or when any pilot program might be expected to launch.
But for the moment, the integration of social media and mobile banking hasn't taken off as some thought it would. "There hasn't been as much traction there as I had expected," confessed Nicole Fields, social media marketing manager at Fiserv. "But I still think that there's an opportunity down the road to leverage whatever social media platform is your preferred communication channel, because so many people are spending time on social media, they're more apt to get an alert through Facebook than through e-mail, because they're on Facebook more often."
Fields said that eventually integration will allow consumers to do banking through social media platforms, but she was at a loss to predict any kind of a timeline. "Concerns about privacy and security are what's holding up the progress there," she said. "It's more of making sure that it's going to be locked down and there's no risk to members, because a lot of these platforms are very public. Just making sure these security measures are in place is going to be critical."
