CHICAGO–Mobile-payment initiatives could falter if consumers continue to believe the payment option is unsafe to use at the point of sale, one industry insider noted during a conference Sept. 26.
Rahul Gupta, president of card services for Fiserv Inc., told attendees here during a panel discussion at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s one-day payments symposium that consumer adoption will determine the success of mobile payments.
Fiserv’s internal research suggests consumers think of mobile banking and payments as a safety issue, Gupta said. “If the consumer takes a pass on mobile, we’re all in trouble financially.”
Indeed, the results of multiple research studies indicate most consumers are uncomfortable with mobile payments in any form. More, recent survey data from Lightspeed Research indicate consumers consider the ability to make payments with a mobile phone “very unimportant” (
To counter such perceptions and beliefs, every entity involved in the mobile-payments system must work to boost consumer confidence in mobile payments, Gupta believes.
“The whole growth of the payment system is built on [consumer adoption],” Gupta says. “We see a big trust issue, and that is leading to adoption barriers.”
Consumers will adopt payment schemes they consider safe, noted multiple panelists at the symposium.
PayPal Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. show users how they protect member information, and consumers “flock to them,” Michael Keresman, president of Cardinal Commerce Corp., told attendees.
Robert Carr, CEO and chairman of Heartland Payment Systems Inc., believes the security aspects of mobile phones are as good as anything in the market. “A cell phone [has the capability] to do encryption properly,” Carr said. “Any security issues with the cell phone are definitely manageable.”
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