More than half of global consumers believe mobile wallets are less secure than cash, but nearly 60 percent of executives say mobile money will build their business because it's safe.
New research from NTT DATA and Ingenico ePayments surveyed 2,000 global consumers and 300 companies worldwide showing that customers in both developed and developing countries are interested in using mobile money. However, companies must do more to ease their security concerns if adoption will become widespread.
Consumers around the world understand the benefits of mobile money, with 60 percent agreeing that it enhances their purchase experience. Half say that mobile money drives loyalty to their financial institution or online merchant.
Meanwhile, security concerns are undermining mobile payments. More than half of consumers believing that mobile wallets are less secure than cash. Nearly 75 percent of consumers say guarantees against monetary fraud would encourage them to use mobile payments, however only 44 percent of businesses currently offer or plan to offer these guarantees. Only 25 percent of consumers feel online and mobile transactions are the safest form of transaction.
Most businesses continue to rely on traditional passwords and finger scans despite consumer desire for sophisticated biometric features such as facial recognition. Less than a third of companies worldwide currently use or plan to use biometrics to secure mobile devices. Consumers focused on security prefer multi-step authentication for mobile payments with the exception of German and Scandinavian consumers who trust passwords most.
“Fear is a powerful inhibitor, and fraud fear is top of mind for many consumers,” said Peter Olynick, senior practice lead, Retail Banking at NTT DATA. “Consumers are not just worried about losing one or two transactions, they fear having their identity stolen. If financial institutions can mitigate those fears and improve merchant adoption for mobile, we will see consumer adoption rates begin to accelerate.”
