Mobile wallets

Apple Inc. is working on a new service that will let consumers pay for any Apple Pay purchase in installments over time, rivaling the buy now/pay later offerings popularized by services from Affirm Holdings Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc.

Apple will allow some iPhone users to scan their driver's license and protect it with the same security used for payment cards in Apple Pay.

Users of the Goldman Sachs-issued card found themselves unable to make payments or view account details.

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Google is enabling cross-border payments within the Google Pay app through integrations with Western Union and U.K.-based remittance firm Wise.

Mobile wallets have seen strong adoption as an in-store payment method in China, but have lagged in appeal in the U.S. until recently. Coronavirus fears have caused many Americans to rethink the mobile wallet’s value proposition.

More than 50 countries support Apple Pay, which launched seven years ago, but adoption still lags in certain developed regions including Israel, Mexico and South Africa.

Amid success stories like Apple Pay, Google Pay and the Starbucks app, there are many wallet apps that failed to gain traction — or squandered it when they did. But there is a lot to learn from their experiences.

Bradley Riss is chief commercial officer at Checkout.com, a firm that acts as a payment gateway, acquirer and processor through a single channel, covering cards, passthrough wallets, stored value wallets and alternative payment options such as point of sale credit. It charges a fee based on processing and card payment costs rather than the percentage+ model that most payment API companies charge. The model is designed to make the service customized to different merchants and serve as a base to offer other merchant products.

In-person branch use will continue, but retail banks should nonetheless double down on building intuitive, easy-to-use mobile experiences that drive customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.