US Mobile Payment Use Has Doubled

If you haven't used your mobile phone to initiates some kind of financial transaction, then you better get on board because it is quickly becoming the fastest-growing segment in the consumer financial world. According to IDC Financial Insights, the number of consumers using their smartphones to complete online or offline transactions has doubled as of May 2012.

The research group also noted that prepaid debit cards are also growing at an almost unparalleled rate. Why group that finding in with mobile payments? Because it all points to a decrease in the monopolistic power that major banks have been getting used to for decades. For the first time in most people's lives, you can now go to a store, complete a transaction, and not have any cash on hand or a credit or debit card, thanks to mobile payments.

This means that players like Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and more need to be on their toes and innovate like they never have before. So what's next? IDC practice director Aaron McPherson said, "Based on our results, we expect to see continued growth in open-loop prepaid cards and mobile payments next year, and believe that the improvements being offered in electronic-bill delivery will break electronic-bill presentment and payment out of its doldrums as well."

[via QR Code Press]