Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati has added Android Pay and Microsoft Wallet to its mobile payment offerings, supporting a total of five mobile wallets.
The $140 billion-asset bank had previously made Apple Pay available to customers in 2015, followed by Samsung Pay and Masterpass. Mobile payment activity has risen 133% among its customer base since then, the bank said in a Jan. 11 news release.
“At a time when more consumers want to make mobile payments, Fifth Third is pleased to be one of the first banks to offer all five mobile payment options,” Greg Carmichael, the bank's president and CEO, said in the release. “We are committed to providing secure and convenient ways for our customers to bank when and how they want.”
Despite the many mobile payment offerings on the market, changing consumer behavior has been slow. One reason, of many, is that the various wallets are fragmented, supporting only certain devices. Banks like Chase and Citi have responded to mobile payments challengers with their own platforms – Chase Pay and Citi Pay, for example – while others including Fifth Third have sought to include more players so as not to limit customer choice.
"We are providing our customers with every option available on the market today,” Jimm Bell, director of consumer and small business payments at Fifth Third Bancorp, said in the release. “We want to make it simple and secure for customers to pay with their phones.”
U.S. consumer payment volume on mobile devices leapt 183% in 2016 on a year-over-year basis, to $27.67 billion, according to research firm eMarketer, and is expected to double again this year.
