The big news out of CU Wallet, the mobile payments CUSO owned bysome 80 credit unions, is that it is on track to go live in 2015,perhaps as early as April, according to Paul Fiore, founder andCEO.

Questions about it abound but after a year of preparation andsubstantial activity in the mobile payments space, there is newoptimism around CU Wallet.

Thank Apple Pay for that, Chris Otey, CU Wallet's chief revenueofficer, said. “Apple Pay sped things up for us by at least ayear,” he noted.

Before Apple Pay debuted in October 2014, Otey admitted thatlining up sales appointments with skeptical and oftenbudget-constrained credit unions was a tough slog. There just wasno confidence that consumers were ready for mobile payments atretail.

A few months into Apple Pay, there was so much interest in CU Wallet that theCUSO scheduled group sessions so that credit unions could get theirquestions answered simultaneously, Otey said.

Fiore said big credit unions are also climbing aboard. Thelargest now is the $10 billion SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union inSanta Ana, Calif. Others include the $8 billion Security ServiceFederal Credit Union in San Antonio, the $6.6 billion San DiegoCounty Credit Union, and the $5.8 billion Digital Credit Union inMarlborough, Mass.

Fiore is adamant that CU Wallet now leverages enough consumersto be a force that will have to be reckoned with by retailers.However, the CUSO still has hurdles to climb.

Read more: Merchant adoption an issue…

One of those barriers is, Apple Pay manianotwithstanding, that actual consumer adoption of the new channelremains tepid, according to some experts. The issue is not a lackof interest but lack of stores that accept it. Early signs haveshown Apple Pay is getting widely used at retailers such asspecialty grocer Whole Foods, Walgreen's, McDonald's, but not atmany other places. Merchant adoption of the technology needed toaccept Apple Pay's Near Field Communication payments is anemic,although some experts believe that will change as more upgradepoint of sale technology to be EMV compliant by the October 2015deadline.

Another hurdle is Apple Pay currently operates at POS only onthe most recent iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Androids and olderiPhones need not apply because they lack NFC chips. As for Android,it remains uncertain if Apple plans to introduce Apple Pay on otherplatforms.

One of the advantages for CU Wallet is its payments technology,which is supplied by Auburndale, Mass.-based Paydiant, is notNFC-based. According to Paydiant Co-founder Chris Gardner, mostmerchants will not have to make a POS hardware upgrade to acceptthe cloud-based system. All the merchant needs is new software, hesaid.

Another plus is the same Paydiant technology is already deployedacross the Subway sandwich shop chain, which is second in volumeonly to McDonald's in fast food, according to a tally by QSRMagazine. It also is the technology tapped by CurrentC, the mobile payments tool from the Wal-Mart-ledMerchant Customer Exchange.

A third advantage for CU Wallet is the technology works on justabout every smartphone. It will run on Android, iPhone, and couldbe configured to run on Windows mobile and BlackBerry.

Credit unions started testing CU Wallet in a number of pilots as2014 ended and 2015 began. At the $440 million PrimeWay FederalCredit Union in Houston, Michelle Oshinski, SVP, said employeesdownloaded and installed the CU Wallet app. “This was a breeze,”she noted.

Employees were then sent to Subway to make purchases and thetransactions went off without a hitch, Oshinski added. “Noemployees reported discomfort with using the app,” she said.

The $2.1 billion Washington State Employees Credit Union inOlympia, Wash., has been testing CU Wallet with a limited number ofemployees primarily at Subway, according to SVP Ben Morales.

“I watch people when I am out shopping. The sheer magnitude ofpeople with phones in their hands is amazing,” Morales said.“People are ready for this.”

The $714 million One Nevada Credit Union in Las Vegas has beenpiloting CU Wallet with a limited numbers of employees. There havebeen no significant hitches, Paul Parrish, EVP and CFO, said.

So what is the possible bump in CU Wallet's path? Merchantacceptance, Mary Monahan, EVP at Javelin Strategy + Research,said.

Financial institutions are in the best position to win thelooming wallet wars, she said, because consumers trust financialinstitutions with their money more than nonbanks such asFacebook.

And, she added, CU Wallet may have a wild card to play.

“We believe they will try to get into MCX. That is a good plan,”Monahan said.