Digital Money Forum - Day 2 - Mobile Payments

These presentations were followed by a panel discussion moderated by Jonathan Collins from ABI Research and including panelists Colin Swain (Barclays), Anne Caffrey (RBS), Oliver Kelly (Vodafone), and Dominic Peachey (FSA).

While earlier in the Forum we'd heard about the great success of Vodafone's efforts with M-Pesa in Kenya, this panel focused not on emerging markets but the opportunity for mobile NFC-based payments in the major European markets.

What struck me about the conversation was how relatively polarized the views were. Oliver was very forthright about the financial reality for the mobile operator associated with paying more for handsets and, perhaps in a worst case scenario, having accelerating demand by consumers for handset replacements (to upgrade to NFC-capable devices) also accelerate the associated handset-related capex upgrade costs. He clearly was very skeptical about any increased air-time or SMS usage that might result from NFC on-board (unlike cameras where those increases were obvious). Lacking that, the business case for the operator - without some participation in payment-related transaction revenues - sounded pretty poor.

Colin and Anne weren't certain what the problem was that mobile payments was solving. Anne couldn't identify how they would reduce any of her bank's payments-related costs, etc. But she was outspoken about believing that by working together collaboratively, the banks and the operators could find a more compelling value proposition that would work for all of the stakeholders including the consumer.

Clearly no one is prepared to give up on the opportunity for mobile payments - it feels so inevitable somehow - but it was also strikingly clear that we've not converged on the one right answer. Indeed, it feels like we're still wandering in the desert looking for the answers that will make good business sense for all involved.

Dave Birch adds some further thoughts on the panel discussion.

The mobile payments panel discussion was the last chapter of this year's Forum. All in all, attending this conference was a great experience. Colin shares about his summary comments as well. We met some great people at the conference and got some great feedback about Payments News as well. Thanks again to Dave Birch for inviting us along to the Forum and special thanks also to Gloria (who seems to just get it all done!).