Do Bank-Branded Wallets Have Consumer Value?

As mobile wallet awareness rises among consumers, new research from JAVELIN shows why it’s time for banks to make their move into the market.

Of course, they’re already trying. There’s the Capital One Wallet, and there’s Chase who is ready to roll out Chase Pay, and American Express with its own plans reportedly in the pipeline. And according to new research on the subject, now is the time for those FIs to jump deeper into the market.

“The customer relationship is the trump card that issuers have to play in the mobile wallet game. Tapping into existing card functionality that your customers have come to expect quickly sets a higher bar for third-party wallet providers,” said Daniel Van Dyke, Analyst, Mobile, at JAVELIN.

The search was part of a larger report called “What’s In Your Mobile Wallet,” which discusses how “financial institutions have a perfect opportunity to stake a claim in this market and maintain a top-of-wallet position with their customers.” This includes research from three different panels of over 3,000 consumers over a period of three years.

With data showing that the proximity payments market is projected to reach $54 billion by 2019, it’s clear why so much importance is being placed on this subject. And as more consumers embrace mobile wallets, and the issues with merchant adoption smooth, the market will be ripe for the taking, JAVELIN’s research shows.

“For the first time, in 2015, consumers switched their preferred wallet providers from their primary FI to PayPal and Visa. Two early bank entrants are taking very different paths to market in the hopes of reversing this recent trend. Capital One Wallet and Chase Pay differ both in their choice of technology and the value proposition for their wallet adopters,” the report states.

The newly released research shows that PayPal and Visa have emerged as the top providers of mobile wallet services. In terms of how 2015 compared to 2014, that’s a shift in the results, which had consumer’s primary bank being the leading spot that consumers preferred for their mobile wallet provider.