Fifth Third Rolls Out Masterpass

Fifth Third Bank is getting into the digital payments game, announcing the ability for customers to pay for things with Android devices both in-store and online.

On Wednesday (July 27) Fifth Third Bank launched Fifth Third Masterpass, which was developed in conjunction with Mastercard and lets customers shop online, in-app and in-store.

“Fifth Third Bank is excited to offer Fifth Third Masterpass – one of the first bank digital wallets in the marketplace that allow in-store mobile payments and online check-out capabilities,” said Randy Koporc, head of Payments and Commerce Solutions for Fifth Third Bank, in a press release. “By offering digital payment solutions, we are able to provide our customers safe and convenient ways to pay using their mobile device.”

Fifth Third Masterpass customers will be able to use the digital wallet at more than 1 million contactless payment systems in the U.S. and it is also accepted at hundreds of thousands of online and in-app merchants, Fifth Third said. All of the customer’s information is stored in a secured digital wallet that uses advanced security such as tokenization.

While Fifth Third is moving full steam ahead with digital payments, some of its competitors are taking a slower approach. Take Bank of America, for example. Based on comments the company recently made it appears that rather than create its own digital wallet it is looking to develop a digital wallet ecosystem that is open. For example, the bank promotes all major forms of digital payment methods, including Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay and Visa Wallet on its digital wallet page. That highlights Bank of America’s strategy to promote whatever it is the consumer wants to use to pay. The ultimate goal is to get consumers to spend money using a Bank of America credit card or debit card, regardless of which vendor it uses as its digital wallet.