New payment solutions putting legacy banking providers at risk

With the rise of new payment solutions such as Apple Card and Amazon Go, we are seeing a disintermediating (or de-coupling) or the traditional banking industry from the business of payments. With traditional financial institutions seemingly having issues in providing consumers with the payment solutions they really want (e.g. Chase Bank shutting down its Chase Pay mobile app within only a few months), we could be seeing a radical, permanent shift in the payment landscape. The problem appears to stem from a fundamental lack of understanding of what consumers want. For example, Chase Pay used QR codes rather than near-field communication (NFC). While this made sense globally, it did not make sense for the U.S., which seems to prefer NFC transactions over QR code-based ones.

For financial institutions in this new reality, they should focus on strengthening the quality of their own mobile banking apps. By creating a five-star app, they can create a strong platform that facilitates personalized interactions with consumers, instead of diluting their efforts and creating multiple, inferior-quality standalone apps.

Source: thefinancialbrand.com