Mobile payments are nowhere near becoming a reality at point of sale.

That was a core building block in a new white paper entitled “The Four Pillars of Mobile Payments – Immediate Opportunities,” issued by Brookfield, Wis.-based financial technology company Fiserv.

But Fiserv also had good news for credit unions.

There are concrete steps redit unions need to be taking now to prepare themselves and their members for a tomorrow when mobile payments in fact flourish, the paper said.

And there's more good news.

“Due to their trusted relationship with consumers, financial institutions have a distinct advantage over non-bank competitors as the mobile banking and mobile payments user experiences converge,” Fiserv SVP of Emerging Payments Ginger Schmeltzer said.

That is not to say, however, that the non-banks – from Google to PayPal and WalMart – can be counted out. They cannot.

Hence why Fiserv stressed that credit unions need to focus on steps now that prepare for mobile payments.

“Banks and credit unions that offer mobile deposits and transfers, and that facilitate mobile payments to billers and individuals, will position themselves successfully as the provider of choice for mobile retail payments,” Schmeltzer said.

In the white paper, Fiserv wrote of three pillars that pave a path to mobile POS, which it dubbed the fourth pillar.

Pillar one was identified as paying self, which Fiserv described as account transfers, MRDC and similar channels.

Pillar two was paying other people, which means person to person payments.

Pillar three way paying billers, via bill pay or using a smartphone camera to snap a photo of a bill.

“Financial institutions that … focus on these pillars of mobile payments have a significant opportunity to assume a leadership position in the mobile payments space,” the paper said.

Schmeltzer elaborated on the topic in an interview.

“Financial institutions want to know what they can do and the first three pillars are within their reach,” she said.

In effect, those three pillars will act as training wheels, preparing consumers to pay at retail.

POS mobile payments, which involve implementing new infrastructure at retail locations, are something smaller financial institutions are currently able to influence.

“Do what you can do now,” said Schmeltzer, who added that in her experience, “financial institutions are very comfortable with this advice.”

Instant Insights /

Fiserv Maps Path to Mobile Payments

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