Mobile phones have increasingly become tools that consumers use for banking, payments, budgeting, and shopping. Given the rapid pace of developments in the area of mobile finance, the Federal Reserve Board began conducting annual surveys of consumers’ use of mobile financial services in 2011. This 78-page report, “Consumers and Mobile Financial Services” (March, 2015) examines trends in the adoption and use of mobile banking, payments, and shopping behavior and how the emergence of mobile financial services affects consumers’ interaction with financial institutions.
UK Mobile Companies Plan Mobile Payment Joint Venture
The U.K.’s three biggest wireless operators said Thursday that they would create a mobile-payment joint venture, entering the high-stakes scramble among wireless operators, tech firms and credit-card companies to popularize a way of making purchases with the wave of a cellphone.
Vodafone Group PLC, Telefonica SA’s O2 and Everything Everywhere said their new venture would create a “mobile wallet,” which cellphone owners can wave in front of censors to pay for goods. It also aims to establish a central portal for advertisers to deliver discounts and loyalty offers to participating U.K. cellphones.
Read more, via WSJ.com.