Mobile payments changing the landscape of retail banking: Hype or reality?

Abstract

Mobile, new technology and ‘Big Data’ are now changing the payments landscape. A ‘silent revolution’ is under way, which will change retail banking as we know it. Mobile is now bringing together the digital and physical worlds, and radically changing consumer behaviour and expectations. The customers are in the ‘driving seat’, deciding what, where and when they want services to be available. For banks, this mobility revolution creates challenges, but also opportunities. Many banks are now entering the ‘digital age’ proactively, re-engineering the way they engage with their customers. The Nordic countries and Holland are good examples of this. But still, many are reluctant to move and they could run the risk of ‘being left behind when the train leaves the platform’. New players such as Google, Apple, PayPal, mobile operators and technology companies have already entered the arena. Though the reasons for them to engage in the payments area are more than one, probably the most important factor is the increasing importance of Big Data and how service suppliers in this digital age can leverage information and create superior customer engagement. It is well known that payments are one of the most important and richest sources for such information. In this paper, Norway is particularly highlighted, being the country that, based on statistics and indicators, has so far come the longest way in this digital evolution.