You wonder why it did not happen long ago, but it did not andnow it is Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv that deserves the praise for coming up with a tightintegration of its Popmoneyperson-to- person payment tool with its mobile banking app.

That means a user can check balances, use classic bill pay and –still staying within the app – use Popmoney to dispatch funds tofriends and others, the company said.

“It's about convenience for the consumer,” said Fiserv vicepresident Steve Shaw in an interview.

He added that around 600 financial institutions already are livewith the Popmoney integration.

The way it works is that existing Fiserv mobile bankingcustomers are offered the option to add in Popmoney to theirapps.

New Fiserv mobile banking customers get the integration out ofthe box.

“We are unaware of any P2P product with similar mobile bankingintegration,” said Shaw.

A PayPal user, for instance, would have to leave his/her mobilebanking app, sign into PayPal, and do a separate transaction.

With Fiserv this all could happen inside the banking app, saidShaw.

“We introduced this because for some time we have been hearingfrom our customers that they wanted the convenience,” saidShaw.

A hope – on the parts of both Fiserv and its financialinstitution customers – is that this integration will up usage ofP2P delivered by banks and credit unions, said Shaw.